


Time has brought your heart to me

by anathefangirl, PurpleHazeGirl



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, And then they were roommates, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hockey, Roommates, Slow Burn, VirtueMoir - Freeform, figure skating, omg they were roommates, vm - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-08-25 01:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16651288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anathefangirl/pseuds/anathefangirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleHazeGirl/pseuds/PurpleHazeGirl
Summary: Tessa is starting her new life as an university student at McGill. She’s won an Olympic gold medal on the ladies event at Pyeongchang and now faces the challenge of an academy life. The only problem she wasn’t expecting to face is her roommate - Scott Moir, a cockey hockey player from the town right next to the one she grew up in. (Aka the university/roommate VM AU)





	1. A first meeting (?)

**Author's Note:**

> Nicole: Thank you Ana for allowing me to be a part of this new multichapter ride, and the girls on the groupchat for their support
> 
> Ana: as always, thank you twin for being an awesome beta, and thank you Nicole for accepting my request of writing this fic with me!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated, especially in multichapters :)

The day Tessa had been waiting for all summer was finally here. She was finally going to McGill, the university she has dreamed of attending ever since she remembered existing. It isn’t only because it’s one of the best universities, but also because Tessa loved Montreal and she had always dreamed of living there one day. She had been going there since she was a kid, with her family. She used to spend most part of summer there and she just absolutely loved it: their amazing parks, the people, the French, the mix of old and new buildings, that reminded her of Europe, and, although she was an introvert and enjoyed staying home, she also loved Montreal’s nightlife, and enjoyed going out from time to time to have a drink with her sister. So, it’s no surprise that in that spring, when her mother came home and said she had mail from McGill university, she cried and yelled and jumped so much. She had never been happier before in her life. Okay, maybe it’s tied up with winning the Olympics as a singles figure skater, in February.

Tessa usually liked to sleep and rest, maybe read a book, when she was on planes. As a figure skater, she had already travelled more than most people, and considering that she was still in school, she had to take those moments to rest as much as she could, since all her time was spent either at the rink or the gym or catching up with her school work. But this time Tessa was feeling more restless than ever. She was too excited to sleep or read, so she was listening to music and looking at the view from the plane. As soon as she saw that they were approaching Montreal, a view she knew all too well, she started feeling a bit nervous: they were landing, and it was all getting real.

Right after getting her bags (and they were a lot, packing your whole life is no joke), she rushed to get an Uber and go to the apartment her parents had rented for her, just a few minutes away from campus. She was sharing it with another student, who she didn’t know yet, but she still preferred it to the dorms. She was here to focus on her studies, she didn’t want distractions of people and parties. She was here to do her degree in Business. She had made her dream as a figure skater of winning an Olympic gold medal come true at only the age of 18, and now she wanted to make her other dream come true as well: to run her own fashion company.

She put all her belongings she managed to fit into three big suitcases (she excelled at packing due to all travels to competitions) in her new room and went to explore the campus and the city, eager to start living her life as an university student.

~~~

Scott arrived at his apartment in Montreal. He has always been an outgoing boy and so he was excited to meet his housemate. He was hoping it would be another guy and that he also loved hockey too, so they could have beer and watch the games together. Scott was a hockey player himself. He started playing at his hometown’s club, in Ilderton, Ontario, and he was also a huge Maple Leafs supporter. Literally all his clothes were either related to Canada (he was a very proud Canadian and he loved his country, don’t mind him) or the Maple Leafs. In fact, his dream was to coach a hockey team, maybe one day, who knows, his favourite team.

He made a small tour around the house and it seemed obvious that someone had been there.

“Hello?” He knocked on the other room’s door. “Is someone here?”. No one answered so he went to his room and started organizing his stuff. He didn’t have much, just a few family photos, some posters of his favourite hockey players, some clothes, and obviously, his skates. Hockey was really all he needed. He finally took the time to text his mother saying that he arrived well and was all settled in his new room. He didn’t like to admit it, but he was a mommy’s boy and he did everything to please her. He knew that his move was going to be hard on his mother, he was the last of his brothers who was still living in his parents’ house, his brothers already moved in with their girlfriends, and his older brother had even married already. His small text was for sure gonna make his mum happy.

~~~

Back in Ilderton, Alma Moir was busy dealing with some problems that come with owning a skating rink. She was feeling a little anxious and this was a great way to keep her mind occupied. Her little boy had just moved all the way to Montreal to start his university studies, and although she was immensely proud of him, she was still feeling a little unease. Was he alright? Was he hungry? Was he cold? Did he get lost in the big city? He was such a small-town boy… It’s not always easy letting your little one go. Well, excuse her, Scott was already 21 but he would always be her little boy. That’s why, when she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, she couldn’t help the smile in her face when she saw that it was a text from Scott. She decided to facetime him. She already missed his face and she wanted to hear all about Montreal.

“Scotty!!! Oh my God, how are you, son?” She asks cheerfully, taking a seat at the chair behind the office table.

“Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum! I told you not to call me that, please! What if someone hears you?” He looks over his shoulder, forgetting for a moment that he’s alone in the apartment.

“Oh c’mon, you know it’s just because I love you, I can’t help it!” Scott sighs deeply with her reply, because he know can’t win the ‘Scotty’ fight no matter how hard he tries. “But how’s Montreal treating you? Are you enjoying the city?”

With the welcomed change of subject, Scott starts to excitedly share some details of his new life. “It’s great! The view from the plane was just so beautiful, mum! I still haven’t had lots of time to see around though, I came home straight from the airport to put my stuff and hopefully meet my housemate, but no one’s here.”

“Oh that’s good! I hope they’ll be nice!” Alma was torn between happiness to see her baby boy create new roots at the Quebecois city and feeling like she was with an empty nest. “I must get back to work. Have a great time there, Scotty. I love you!”

He didn’t even bother to whine with her this time, deciding to let this occurrence slip by.“Okay, bye ma, I love you too! Tell everyone that I said hi!”

Later at night, Scott heard keys on the door and immediately jumped out of his bed, wanting to greet his roommate. To tell the truth, he got a little disappointed with sound of heels on the hallway. He still put on his best smile and went to meet the girl who he was apparently sharing an apartment with. Alma had always taught him to be nice to girls.

“Hum, hi!” Scott welcomed the dark haired girl that was having a bit of trouble to handle with the few paper bags she was carrying on both her hands and arms.

Tessa was so focused on bring all the bags from her shopping spree - mostly books - that she a little taken by surprise and jumped. She thought she was alone. But now, she couldn’t believe the sight that was right in front of her.

“Oh I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m sorry…” He went to help her, noticing she was just a little bit of trouble

“Don’t worry, I just thought I was alone. I was here earlier, and no one was here.” She couldn’t believe this was happening! Why her?!

“So I guess we’ll be sharing an apartment for a while, eh? I’m Scott Moir, nice to meet you!” He offered his right hand for her to shake.

“Yeah, I guess so.” She agreed, putting the bags she was carrying on her left arm by her bedroom door before going to shake his offering hand. “I’m Tessa Virtue. Nice to meet you too!”

There was a bit of an awkward air between them when neither of them knew what else to say. She went with the first thing that came into her mind.

“So, I’m going to my room to unpack and organize my things.” Tessa pointed to her bedroom room and started making going towards her destination. “See you later!”

“Yeah, see you later! Just yell if you need any help.” He could see she was a bit uncomfortable with the small interaction and thought it was better to leave her. Maybe she was still jet lagged from the her trip.

Once the girl’s bedroom door was close, she breathed deeply. What an awkward encounter, she thought. She had already unpacked everything. She just needed to get away from him. She was starting to freak out a little. She launched herself on the comfortable bed and decided to text Jordan, her older sister.

_Tessa: You won’t believe what I’m about to tell you_

She received a text not even a second later. She could always count on Jordan. She was always available, especially for some gossip.

_Jojo: OMG SPILL_

_Tessa: Scott Moir is my housemate_

_Jojo: Scott Moir who?_

_Tessa: Scott Moir, the hockey player_

_Jojo: Oh hun, good luck… The world is so small, how did that even happen?_

Her world is indeed a small round thing.


	2. I'll keep running away if you call my mame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story between the roommates starts to unravel...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ana and I (Nicole) would like to thank, again, her twin for being the beta and the girls on the gc for their constant support (and excitement).
> 
> The title of this chapter comes from Haim's "Running If You Call My Name"

The days go by and Tessa and Scott start falling into the university life routine. Even though they are taking different majors, they have a very similar schedule. They often meet in the kitchen, in the morning, when Scott doesn’t get late. He’s always in a bright mood, being a morning person, and it immediately sets Tessa off. She’s the exact opposite: she would really rather stay in her bed, sleeping or reading her current favorite book, but being a people pleaser, she never likes to be late, especially to class. So, she always makes the extra effort of waking up early, which also means that she eliminates any chances of running into her roommate in the bathroom, avoiding any awkward situation.

Plus, she also likes to have time to cook her breakfast peacefully. God knows she can’t cook to save her life when she’s nervous or stressed. On the first week, she often felt his gaze on her as she cooked, or tried to. The way her wet hair fell on her shoulders right after she got out of the shower didn’t go unnoticed by the young man. She had a natural beauty that was clearly evident at first sight.

“You know, your green eyes shine especially bright in the morning light”. He tells her one morning, as he watches her attempt to cook scrambled eggs. Honestly, Tessa was getting a little tired of poached eggs. She really should try cooking some other recipes.

“I beg your pardon?” It’s too early for her to be properly awake and she was honestly not in the mood to deal with men, their jumping hormones and their poor excuses of flirtation.

“Your eyes. They have this special type of energy. They’re beautiful.” She glances wearly at her roommate direction, who’s seated in one of the highchairs of the kitchen counter. He holds her gaze intensely, but she breaks the moment after two seconds.

“Hum, thanks I guess…” she looks down, following the weird smell, and sees the burnt eggs on the pan. “Oh shit, now I don’t have breakfast. This is just great.” She sounds really frustrated.

“I can make something quickly for you, if you want.” He immediately gets up from where he has been sitting the entire time, willing to help her.

“No, that’s okay, you’ve done enough.” She throws the ruined food on the trashcan and went to grab her school backpack. “I’ll just grab some Timmy’s on the way. You should go too, you’re gonna be late. Again.” He didn’t even bother to answer back. One week living with Tessa Virtue and he already knows not to mess with her in the morning.

At first, Scott thinks it’s just crush, like the ones he has for other women. Most women actually. They’re just so mysterious, besides the obvious good looks, and they really could take over the world. Although he is a “serial dater”, and very proud of his vast record of women, he also has an immense respect for them. He never dates more than one girl at a time, and if he takes one home after a party, he always makes sure they don’t feel pressured to do so. So, before moving to Montreal, he made sure to be single. He knew he wasn’t ready for a long distance relationship, and he was never that serious with any girl before. All the girls he had been with so far had been either one night stands, or had only lasted a couple of months. He was there to have fun, not find the love of his life. He considers himself too young for that.

He isn’t sure what makes Tessa so interesting to him. He has only known her for such a short time, but he feels like it’s been forever. He likes to watch her study, notice the way her eyebrows get closer when she reads something she doesn’t quite understand, or the way her whole face lights up when she finally gets an exercise right. She always rewards herself with chocolate. He likes to watch her make her way around in the kitchen. On the most days, he notices she uses her hair up in a bun, her face free of makeup. That way he can pay attention to every single freckle on her cheeks. She looks so careless and free.

And she hums, always the same melody, the Pride and Prejudice movie adaptation score. He doesn’t know it yet, but that’s the song of her free skate at the Olympics. Probably the last skate of her amateur career. And most of all, she loves hearing her laugh, especially when she’s on the phone with some girl named Jordan, her sister or maybe her best friend from back home, he’s not sure of it. He loves when she laughs so hard that she throws her head back and he can see her chest going up and down, struggling to catch her breath. Not that he’s really looking.

That’s it until he finds himself thinking about her during his classes, daydreaming about what it would feel like to run his hand through those loose curls, to be the one to make her laugh so much that causes her to have happy tears on her beautiful eyes. Or how it would be like to lay with her on the couch of their living room watching a romantic comedy on a friday night, after ordering takeout, Scott being too tired to cook after an exhausting week of school. She would fall asleep against his shoulder and he would gently lift her, taking her to her room and tuck her in bed. _“Stay. Just tonight. Please.”_ He wouldn’t ignore her pleading (she could always make him weak) and they would both fall asleep in each other’s arms.

“Scott!” he feels his friend, Andrew Poje, shaking him, more and more intensely. “Earth to Scott!” Poje snaps his fingers in front of Scott’s face.

“Hum?” He finally gets out of his reverie and back into reality.

“The class is over, man.” Scott looks around and realizes his friend is right. They are the only people left in the big classroom. “What’s with you? It’s like you were miles away the entire class.”

 _Yes, I was. Precisely 4 miles away, at home, with Tessa,_ he wants to say. But he doesn’t. “Just tired. These 8am classes take a toll on a man. I’m 20 after all.”

Going home, he keeps thinking about all the things that went through his mind that morning. The way it all felt so real and so right. _Poje is right, what’s with you, Moir? You’re not supposed to daydream of being domestic and spooning in bed with a woman, especially when she is your roommate. That’s not what you’re here for, and that’s not what you want. You want to meet cool girls, fool around and have fun. Not settle down with your girlfri-._ He stops his trail of thoughts right there. He’s so frustrated he just wants to slam his head against the nearest wall, which happens to be his building. _Our building. Oh shut the fuck up, stupid brain._

Once he gets inside, things just get even worse. He finds Tessa in nothing but a sports bra and leggings that leave little to the imagination, dancing to some really really loud song that he doesn’t recognize. Scott stops for a moment to take in the scene unravelling in front on the living room, observing the defined muscles of her back and arms. She does a slow spin and that’s when he sees that the main subject of his latest romantic daydreams has killer abs and a belly button ring. _Great, another thing for me to lust over her. Her incredible physique. And of course she has to have a freaking belly button ring that makes her even more sexy_.

“You really can’t do that elsewhere, can you?” The scene unfolding next to him leaves him on the edge and he nearly shouts.

“WHAT?” She turns the music off and cleans herself a bit with a towel. She has been dancing for almost an hour and is really sweaty.

“Just have some freaking respect!” He yells again and slams his bedroom door, going inside.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” She yells back and kicks his door, clearly upset that he has now ruined her moment of relaxation.

“That I may be falling in love with you.” He whispers, only for his walls to listen. He sighs hard against his pillow, once he realizes how true that statement is.

Still in the hallway, Tessa feels confused over Scott’s behavior but decides to let it go. She’s just being herself and having some fun. There’s nothing wrong with that.

~~~

Time passes by and Tessa then perceives the semester has started almost a month ago. She was, like she promised herself, focusing on her grades. The girl spends most of her time in McGill or the library, studying and making most of the things she is learning. She’s an introvert, so she really doesn’t mind. She’s a really smart and nice girl, and she quickly stands out in her class. Everyone wants to be her friends, and all her teachers really love her. She didn’t like to say that she was popular, but she was kind of becoming something like that.

She becomes very good friends with a girl from one of her classes, Kaitlyn Weaver. They get selected to be do an assignment together and quickly bond over the fact they both were figure skaters, even though Kaitlyn stopped right before joining the junior ranks and was an ice dancer.

They like to go out for drinks, occasionally, to go shopping, or just have fun together. Tessa knows that her life couldn’t be all about studying, just like her mom had made sure, before, that her life had never been all about figure skating. However, being a competitive figure skater and representing her country in international competitions never really gave her the opportunity to spend much time with her friends and do all those things teenage girls liked to do. So, all in all, Tessa thinks things are going great, and she’s really enjoying to be in Montreal.

At home, on the other hand, everything was different. She was trying her best to ignore her housemate. She still couldn’t believe he was acting like a huge asshat. Sure, she was never one to stand out. She liked to stay in her corner with a book and a mug of hot chocolate. But still, it was getting on her nerves that he didn’t seem to remember her at all.

Scott, that has finally come to terms with his feelings for Tessa, decides to try his luck with Tessa, asking if she wants to hang out with him and some of his friends. She’s studying in the living room. Tessa often does that, because the table is bigger and she has more space to spread her books, a cup of coffee and the usual chocolate bar. He walks in the room and throws himself loudly - like always - on the couch.

“Virtch, I’ve got a proposition for you.” The young man points at her and gives one of his signature smirks. “Let’s hang out tonight. I got tickets for the Leafs game. You, me, Poje and Chiddy.” He stops for two seconds to rearrange himself better on the couch and to look at her, noticing how a few stray hairs of the girl’s top knot had fallen on her face. He has the strange urge of wanting to reach out and tuck them behind her ear. “What do you say? You can bring some friends too. I can get more tickets.”

“I’ve told you a million times not to call me that! What’s with you? Damn!” she says, raising her voice a bit to make her point. Tessa hates that nickname. “And no, I don’t what to hang out with you. Why would I?” She focus again on the book paragraph that is right in front of her.

“Don’t be like that!” Scott keeps the volume of his voice, not wanting to start an argument with the young woman. “Why wouldn’t you want to hang out with me? I’m a nice dude.” he gestures to himself, to mark his point. “You’re the one who always has her nose stuck in those books.”

Tessa, that was having a hard time, again, to keep her focus on the books and texts for her essay, takes a deep and steady breath before answering. “Yeah. It’s called studying. Maybe you should try it someday!”

“Jeez, woman, cut the attitude.” He raises his hands, trying to show that he didn't mean to annoy her. Scott is a little hurt by her refusal, but hides it quickly. “Alright don’t come. It’s your loss anyway.”

“I would go if maybe you remembered me...” she whispers, almost to herself, hoping he wouldn’t listen. He didn’t.

“What did you say?” He was now curious to know what she might have said.

“Nothing, nothing.” She shakes her head, trying to clear her thoughts from those moments of the past, when she seemed to be invisible to him.

Realizing she wouldn’t share the true content of her commentary, he decides to let it go. “Alright then, I’m gonna go. Enjoy your studying.”

And with that, he’s off, leaving her to the lonely companion of the open scattered books.

~~~

Scott had texted his friends that they should get ahead, telling that they should all meet at the arena since he was running a little late. He was honestly thinking Tessa would accept his invitation, and the conversation kept him for longer than he had anticipated. He doesn’t understand why she’s being so hard. He has never done anything to upset her, but it seems that since the first day she just doesn’t click with him.

He doesn’t know why. Since he first saw her, he was immediately drawn to her piercing green eyes. And her laughter became his new favourite sound in the world. Although he never seemed to be the cause of it, he is determined to change that. He’d never been the kind of guy to quit things, and he wouldn’t start now, even if he only seems to annoy her. He tries so hard to be caring and attentive, but no matter what he does, it always results in a _“just beat it, Scott”_ , or a _“I don’t need your help, but thanks”_. Truth be said, he was a bit bummed by some of her actions and that evening’s refusal to hang out, but he knows he can always get any girl he wants at the bar, so he doesn’t let himself get too affected. It has always been that way.

When he got to Centre Bell an hour after he left the apartment, he immediately spotted his friends, Andrew and Patrick Chan (that everyone calls Chiddy).

“Hey man!” Poje greeted him with a pat on the back. “Where’s your girl? I was excited to meet her…”

“She’s not _my_ girl, man, she’s _a_ girl, but not my girl.” He shrugged while explaining his complicate roommate situation.  “And you know where there are more girls? At the bar we’re all going to after this game! Man, I really need a drink.”

“OH MY GOD SHE REJECTED YOU!!” Chiddy was almost shouting for everyone passing by to hear.

“Shut up! And keep your voice down. She did not reject me. I wasn’t counting on her anyway, I just happened to have an extra ticket.” He was trying his best to sound unaffected about the young woman’s refusal, but both of his friends could see right through him. So he changes the subject of their conversation. “Let’s just focus on the game, okay?”

Andrew, in the other hand, has different plans about Scott’s roommate’s dismissal. “Oh my God, she totally rejected. This will go down in history.” He pull Scott closes to give him a teasing scratch on shorter man’s head. “Tessa Virtue, the first woman to ever reject Mr. Scott Moir.” He gestures with his hands to the sky, like he was seeing a billboard.

You could see that the three friends were very at ease with teasing each other. They all knew each other from hockey and, although they were rivals on the ice (they played for different teams), they were actually best friends off the ice.

“But tell us, pleeeease.” It puzzles Patrick to understand what made the outgoing Scott like, as his friend describes anytime he can, the introvert and bookworm girl. “What makes you so interested in that girl anyway? Excluding the fact that you guys live together and you could get laid anytime you want.”

“Shut up, it’s not like that. I don’t know man, she’s just different from all the girls.” He pauses for a moment, himself trying to understand what has drawn him into feeling that undefined romantic sentiment for Tessa. “She’s so smart and she uses words that you don’t even know what they mean. And her eyes, no one can resist those eyes, I’m convinced. Oh, and you should hear her laugh, it’s the most beautiful sound in the world, I can’t even explain it.”

The other two men notice how their friend sound and exchange a look. They understand right away what Scott is trying to say through his rambling. “Oh man, you’re in love. You’re actually so screwed.” Andrew patts his friend on the back, in mocking comfort as the three of them take their sits on the ice hockey arena.

“I’m not in love.” Scott gives them a direct look. “I just… I don’t know… I feel like I recognise her from somewhere…”

Chiddy, that have been quiet for a while, decides to share something that have been on his mind for a while now. “Tessa Virtue… Isn’t she a figure skater? Like wasn’t she at the Olympics this year? I’m pretty sure that she even won a medal.” He knew he recognised that name the second Scott had told them he moved in with a gorgeous girl named Tessa Virtue.

“Dude, don’t even tell me that!” Scott can’t even hide how surprised he is being that revelation. “They’re all so into their songs and their stupid moves. Who even likes to see people spinning on the ice for fun?” They all shrug and decide to focus on the game.

Scott made up his mind, taking a resolve to just enjoy himself tonight and forget all about Tessa. Luckily he would even find a pretty girl and take her home with him.


	3. Another head aches, another heart breaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A girl’s night out has an accidental meeting...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Sofia, Nathalia and the girls on the gc for the constant support (s/o to Eve for helping us out on the restaurant choice)! The kudos, comments and the feedback, either here, on Twitter or text (we know who did that *wink*) gives us fuel to continue writing this fic! 
> 
> The chapter title comes from The Killers’ “All These Things That I’ve Done” (if you've never listened to a song from them, YOU SHOULD!)

On a chilly Thursday night, Tessa and Kaitlyn are on the blonde-haired girl’s dorm room, watching _To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before_. It’s late September and both girls are enjoying a night in, after dealing with all their essays and pop quizzes scheduled for their classes. They are wearing comfortable clothes, a blanket on each lap, a mug of hot chocolate warming their hands and the heating is on - Kait learned quite soon how Tessa doesn’t like to feel cold, despite pretty much growing up inside an ice rink.

 _“Do you know what it’s like to like someone so much you can’t stand it and know that they’ll never feel the same way?”_ Hearing this, Tessa can’t help but feel a sense of closeness to the character. The way she can almost see her life unfolding on the screen makes her shiver, and she almost starts to tear up. She can hide it well. A life lived in front of cameras, an audience and judges has prepared her for these situations. However, the uneasiness radiating from her body doesn’t go unnoticed by her friend.

“You know...” Kaitlyn starts, shifting her gaze between the tv and the girl seated on the couch with her. “Is everything okay between you and your roommate?” She notices how her friend is about to answer her, so she cuts her off. “And before you say ‘it’s all good’, I can see that the movie plot is making you feel slightly uncomfortable, so that excuse won’t work this time around with me.”

“It’s just that…” Tessa sighs before replying. “I’m quite weary about being around him, Kait. I told you a bit of my past and you know why I feel like I shouldn’t trust him when he can’t even recognize me besides being his roommate.” She stops for a moment to drink her hot beverage. “And he wants to help me on things I don’t need any assistance, tries to flirt with me whenever he feels like it. And besides all that, he’s so loud while watching hockey games or playing video games, and I prefer a more quiet ambient.”

Kaitlyn pauses the movie before continuing their talk, wanting to pay full attention to it. “Tess, you know what that frustration looks like? Chemistry!”

Tessa grunts over her friend’s comment. “Kait, you should know by now that all I feel about Scott isn’t chemistry. It’s annoyance. And even if it is what you mentioned, it’s totally one sided, meaning his side, not mine.”

“Ok, if you’re so sure of it, I’ll believe you.” The blue-eyed girl decides to leave the subject die. For now. “You need a distraction and I want to help you with that. Tomorrow we’re gonna go out, either to eat a really greasy food or just to dance, enjoy yourselves and forget about weirdass twists of fates and boys. Each one do you prefer?”

The brunette doesn’t think twice before answering. “Food. I can never say no to trying new places to eat. And it has to have chocolate milkshake!”

Kait giggles because of course Tessa has to call dibs on something that has chocolate on it. “So it’s a date.” She says cheerfully. “And since you picked what we’re going to do, I get to pick the place. Deal?”

“Deal.” With that, the girls go back to watch the movie. Tessa just hopes her friend doesn’t pick a place she will feel dislocated.

On the following morning, Tessa receives a text from Kaitlyn, telling her the address of the chosen place for their night outing. The girl it’s so engrossed into reaching the end of the book she’s currently reading, A Gentleman In Moscow, to search and know more about the food place they’ll go.

So to say that she’s welcomely surprised when her Uber stops on front of a 50’s themed restaurant called Jukebox is an understatement. Tessa lets out a breathy laugh, relieved at her friend’s choice, and pays the driver. Once in the sidewalk, she checks her phone and sees there’s a new text from her friend, letting her know she already found a booth and is waiting inside - attaching a selfie of holding the menu. _Count on Kait to really cheer me up_ , she thinks. Tessa gets inside and immediately spots her friend.

She’s greeted with a smile, that’s so typical of Kaitlyn, and a warm hug. “Hey, I thought you had forgotten our date!” 

“How could I forget an offer that involves food and good company?” The green-eyed girl states assuredly. “I just got distracted with something before starting to get ready...”

“Reading?” She inquires, understanding the hidden meaning behind the _“distraction”_ instantly.

“Yeah.” Kaitlyn knows her habits so well by now.

“So, I’m assuming you didn’t even look at the menu I sent you.” She says accusingly.

“No, but if it makes you feel better, the Uber was just pulling up when you sent it”. Kait shrugs at the comeback and she shifts her attention to the space and the menu in front of them. 

Tessa keeps looking around the restaurant, taking in its decoration. “I had never come here! It’s such a nice place! How did you find it?”

“Just randomly, I was out and about on the other day and I passed by, and thought it would be a good place to hang out.” Her friend replies, passing a menu over to her.

The waiter approached them. “Are you girls ready to order?” 

“Yes, I would like a Béliveau burger and a strawberry milkshake”, Kaitlyn says. 

“And I would like a Poutine burger and a chocolate milkshake”, Tessa declares handing their menu to the waiter.

Tessa notes the look on the waiter’s face as she ordered her chocolate milkshake and her friend laughs. “What’s so wrong about poutine with chocolate?” She whispers. “Chocolate goes well with literally everything. Am I the only one with good taste?” Kaitlyn laughs at her friend and her chocolate obsession. 

The conversation flows effortlessly between the two friends, going through several types of subject - except boys, as they had delimited on the night before. Their food and drink orders come, making the duo shift their focus to devour the delicious burgers and milkshakes they picked.

While the two young women enjoy the rest of their meal, three young men make their way into the restaurant, excitedly speaking about the next round of hockey games and their players preferences. That’s when one of them, with hazel eyes, notes a certain laugh coming from one of the booths in the middle of the restaurant’s front area. The sound makes him turns his head searching the origin of it, locating its source as soon as he sees dark brown loose curls.

“Guys, we have to go”. He states bluntly. His friends look at him like he’s out of his mind. 

“Why?” One of his friends inquire. “We just got here and I really wanted to try out one of their burgers.”

“You see that booth right there in the middle?” His points on the direction that his gaze is fixed and his friends nod in understanding. “Tessa is there.”

His buddies look now at the girls with more intent, one of them with sheer excitement while the other starts to pay more attention on the blonde girl.

“Which one is Tessa?” He hopes it isn’t the blue eyed girl.

“The brunette.” Both of his friends answer at the same time.

The guy in the middle looks at the shortest one with a shocked expression. “How do you even know?”

“I remember seeing her on TV at this year’s Olympics.” He shrugs. “We talked about this on the other day, remember?” He tries to sound casual on the outside, when on the inside his heart is racing in excitement for seeing one of the best athletes of a sport he secretly loves so much. 

On the other side of the restaurant front area, the girls are laughing over a dog meme, oblivious to the men chatting.

After a few moments, Kaitlyn starts noticing the three said men looking at the direction of their booth with different types of expressions of their faces. The taller of them gazes with a mix of curiosity and a peculiar interest, apparently directed at her. The second man seems to looking more at Tessa than at her, with some signs of anxiousness and something close to heart eyes adorning his face. And the third man keeps shifting his focus between his companions and the two women, somewhat confused and cheerful.

“Uhm, Tess?” She asks with a tone of curiosity. Her friend just gives a hum to acknowledge her questioning. “Why are there three guys standing nearby the front door?”

“I don’t know Kait, maybe they’re eating here too? We’re not the only ones allowed here, although that would be preeeeeeetty awesome!” She laughed, but notes that her friend kept her serious gaze.

“No, that’s not what I mean, they’re like staring… at us…” With that, Tessa turns her head in the direction of the three guys that seem to make Kaitlyn so uncomfortable. As soon as she sees them, she looks back at the blonde, with a serious and nervous expression.

“Oh my god, Kaitlyn, if you’re my friend, don’t look at them. Please please please ignore them. Pretend they’re not here.” She pleads with a certain desperation. “I can’t believe he managed to ruin this night. I hate him. What is he even doing here? I swear to god, if he followed me… I just wanted to have fun for one night and not think about _him_.” She rambles.

“Tess, stop, what are you talking about? What is happening?” She tries to calm her down while trying herself to understand the situation.

“Those three guys staring at us? That’s Scott. Ugh!” She puts her head between her hands, trying to shield herself from the men’s vision.

“That’s Scott????” Kait is astonished by the revelation.

“Yes, the one in the middle. With the stupid Leafs shirt and Team Canada toque.” She indicates with her head, peeking through her fingers to look at him.

“Oh… so… do you think his tall friend goes to McGill too?” Her friend questions, curiosity lacing her tone. 

It’s Tessa’s turn to look astonished. “Kaitlyn, why does that matter? Just stop staring. If they come here you’re a dead woman.”

Meanwhile, Andrew and Patrick decide for Scott and walk the short distance between where they stand and the two girls, leaving him to grunt and follow along.

“Good evening, girls. I believe that you are the famous Tessa Virtue.” Poje greets them and looks at her for a moment, then directing it towards her friend. Little does he know the girl’s mind is racing a mile to understand why he might know her name.

The other boy seems to notice her distress and joins the conversation. “Hi, I want to congratulate you on your gold medals from PyeongChang.” _Oh, so they know me as figure skater and not as Scott’s roommate_ , she thinks relieved.  

“Yes, she was really impressive on her performances, wasn’t she?” Even though they’ve known each other only for a short time, Kaitlyn expresses her pride in her new friend, as if she’d been there all along the way.

“Yeah, and Scott here totally forgot to mention he has been living on the same apartment as an Olympic athlete.” The first boy exposes, leaning on their booth whilst the second one stands awkwardly beside him, with his hands inside his coat pockets. Scott stays a little behind the duo.

“I-” Scott is interrupted by his friend, not even having the chance to defend himself. The truth is that he didn’t even know about that fact, until his friend told him a few days ago. With this information, Tessa starts to get a little confused. _So Scott forgot to say that I’m an Olympic athlete? Does he even know about it anyway? So they know me as Scott’s roommate, after all and not an Olympic gold medallist, which means that he told them about me? This makes no sense. He doesn’t even care about me_ , she thinks.

“Excuse us ladies, we totally forgot to introduce ourselves. I’m Andrew and this shorty here is Chiddy.” The tall guy extends his arm to take the blonde’s left hand and kissing the back. 

“Oh I’m Kaitlyn, it’s _so_ nice to meet you.” She feels charmed by Andrew’s behavior. “Hummm, do you go to McGill? I believe I’ve never seen you before.”

“Yes, I do, actually, I’m majoring in Educational Psychology. I’m in the same class as Scotty here, but we go way back, isn’t that right?” Scott slaps Poje friend in the arm he put on the booth to support himself, just for the mention of that horrible nickname. Kaitlyn giggles over the boys’ antics. Tessa still doesn’t know what to think of this accidental meeting. “And I think you’re correct, I would remember seeing that beautiful smile if we’d ever run into each other.” He makes the girl blush.

Meanwhile, Chiddy decides to approach Tessa. He notices the she has been staring at her milkshake for a while, avoiding everyone’s eye contact. Scott takes this as a cue to leave and order some drinks at the counter. 

“So, I’m Patrick, but everybody calls me Chiddy.” He takes his hands out of his pockets and starts to gesture all around, in an anxious mood.

“Hey. Tessa.” She gives him a little shy wave.

“Yeah, I know… I’m… a big fan… What you did out there in February, it was pretty impressive!” Tessa looks up at him with that, calculating if she’ll need to bring out her media face.

“Thanks, I guess… I worked my whole life for those minutes on the ice, I’m so glad that it all paid off.” She explains, still sensing the need to be careful on this interaction. “It can be very exhausting, you know? Not only for me, but for my family too. Not everyone understands that.”

“Yeah, I get it. I played hockey too, not like on a high level like you in figure skating, but even with practices everyday, it was hard on my parents.” Chiddy explains. “I can’t even imagine what it was like to move to a different city all by yourself at such a young age.”

“I- How do you know?” She genuinely surprised by Scott’s friend tone.

“Like I told you, I love figure skating, and since you moved to the senior ranks you’ve stood out from everyone else, especially given your story with injuries and everything. You’re really an example for a lot of people.” He shares, with a warm expression on his face.

“Wow. Hum… No one has ever really told me that. Thank you.” Tessa feels really touched by the boy’s words, sensing he’s not like the typical figure skating fan, caring only about the performances. Chiddy seems to care about the athlete she is and that really warms her heart.  

An hour passes and the new friends keep their conversations. Tessa and Chiddy continue talking about their beloved sport, what they like and what they hate about, the judging controversy, the weird costumes and song choices. Kaitlyn and Andrew seem more and more into each other, as they get to know each other more. The man looks at her with stars in his eyes, and the girl just laughs at everything he says.

Only Scott doesn’t seem to be having a good a time. He keeps looking at Tessa and Chiddy talking, wishing that could be him. Once he notices, he’s had too much to drink and has a girl practically sitting on his lap. He whispers something to her and goes to the table where his friends are sitting.

“Hey guys, this was fun and all, but I think I’m gonna head off.” They all say goodbye, although with a bit of protest, but in the end Scott leaves the restaurant holding the girl he was just talking at the bar. Tessa watches him leave, how he takes the hand of the girl waiting for him at the doorway, right before putting his arm around her waist. She can’t help but feel a mix of hurt and frustration about the boy she shares an apartment with. But as soon as the feelings starts to flourish inside her, she mentally shrugs and focus again on the people around her, deciding he won’t ruin her night completely.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Jukebox Burgers is actually a real place in Montreal, so if you want to check it out, here's the link (https://jukeboxburgers.com/menu). They honestly look amazing and made us hungry while we were writing!
> 
> In the next chapter things might be taking a little turn so keep around!


	4. Could you fall for a woman like me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story continues to unfold and some developments happen…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the biggest chapter we wrote so far (4k) and it originally started as the second half of the previous one. But we noticed it was getting too big and it deserved the proper development of ideas, so here we are with chapter four! 
> 
> As usual, we want to thank everyone that has been giving us the support to continue writing this fic. And thank you Nathy for being this chapter's beta! The chapter title comes from Little Mix's "Woman Like Me". 
> 
> Enjoy!

A few days pass since the Jukebox incident (as Tessa calls it now), and she’s heading home her afternoon classes while enjoying a flat white. She feels her phone vibrating almost non stop, deciding to stop and see if it’s anything important. As she scrolls down her phone’s notifications, a certain pattern is clear on her texts - _hey, are you okay?_ ; _have you seen it yet?_ ; _do you need to talk?_ \- coming from her mom, Jordan, Casey, and even some of the closest friends she made through her competitions. She doesn’t understand at first what they all would be concerned about and then it downs on her, it’s the time of year the Grand Prix assignments are released. And that she won’t compete anymore.

Feeling blue over the idea of not being on competitive ice anymore, she continues to walk home, barely noticing when she arrives on the condo and gets inside, not even noting that Chiddy is in the entrance hall.

“Hey, Tessa.” He greets her warmly.

“Oh, hey, Chiddy. Didn’t see you there. Are you waiting for Scott?” She tries to hide her current mood behind her media training, showing a insincere smile.

“Yeah, we were leaving to go train a bit but Scott noticed he forgot his phone so he went upstairs, and I’m here waiting for him.” He explains.

“Oh, okay then.” She answers automatically. Patrick feels something is off with the girl and decides to question it.

“Is everything alright? Is Scott being his usual self and being too much of an energizer bunny?” Tessa looks up at him with that, noting how truly concerned he seems to be, deciding to be honest with him.

“A what?” The girl is confused by the term, but she’s still so into her trail of thoughts that it doesn’t incite her curiosity. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just that the Grand Prix assignments came out today and it came back to my senses that I’m not competing anymore.”

Despite not being a figure skater, he understands Tessa’s humour and sympathizes with her, coming up with an idea to cheer her up. “How about we do this then: we see which days the competitions will happen and we can watch and judge people over their costumes and song choices, eh?”  

“I think I’ll take you up on that offer.” She answers with a timid smile.

“Now, c’mon here, my mom says I give the best hugs and you look like you need a good hug right now.” He opens his arms with a friendly and warm smile, and the girl can’t refuse the offer. They are in such a friendly mood that they don’t notice Scott climbing down the stairs that led to the hallway. He sees them hugging and how Tessa looks comfortable on his friend’s embrace. He coughs, as to let them know he’s there.

“Am I interrupting the two little lovebirds or can we get going? Thought _you would die if you spent five more minutes without setting foot on the ice_.” Scott says, air quoting Chiddy. The annoyance in his voice was visible, which earned him a head smack from his friend.

“Jeez, what’s up with you?” When they turned, the girl had already left to the apartment, leaving them alone to argue.

“Scott, for someone who’s getting a degree here in McGill, you’re pretty dumb when you’re in a mood…” Chiddy starts walking out of the building, running his hands through his hair in a nervous manner.

“What?! Me, in a mood?!” Scott catches up with him, barely believing his long time friend is calling him out on his behaviour.

“Yes, you!” The man stops in the middle of the sidewalk they’re walking and turns to his friend. “Do you wanna know why I was hugging Tessa? Because she was visibly upset over the assignments for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating events coming out today and not competing anymore!” That silences Scott right away. “You, as her roommate for what, almost _a whole month now_ , should have taken the time to google her name and see how much of a competitor Tessa is!”

Scott tries to find words to reply his friend but his mind is empty of any possible answers that won’t make him feel even more ashamed of himself as he is at the moment.

“You know what?” Chiddy is clearly angry at his friend’s stupidity. “You should stop worrying so much over me being close to Tessa and try to be a good roommate for her.” He continues walking towards the ice rink to train, leaving Scott behind to comprehend he messed up.  

~~~

Three days go by since the argument with Chiddy about Tessa. Scott isn’t exactly talking to him at the moment and is avoiding being near to his roommate. That means the hockey training sessions and the class he shares with the boy, as well staying as at the apartment are all starting to get awkward for him. He’s been using his free time now to talk more with Andrew, heading to the gym or going out at night to distract himself from the two people that made him act this way. While with his friend he can use the silent treatment, with his roommate he reasons that it was just a crush, deciding to move on from her.

Scott goes to a bar on Friday, friendless - since his two usual companions are busy watching a football game together. He’s on his third drink when he starts to feel more relaxed and resolves to put his “forgetting Tessa” plan in action. The young man perceives that a certain redhead keeps looking at him like she would love nothing more than have her way with him. He goes to her after getting a refill for himself and a new drink for her.

The girl introduces herself and they start talking, him using his smirks to charm her. After a while, he can’t remember if the girl’s name is Andy or Amy, focusing only that she looks nothing like the girl he wants to forget. He asks if she wants to go to calmer place to talk, wanting nothing other than getting lost in her. She says yes and Scott takes her home.

On the following morning, Tessa is in her official studying place - the living room table - when she hears a woman’s giggle coming from Scott’s room, which is located right next to the living room. She dismisses the distraction instantly, focusing on the current task at her for one of her classes.

A few moments later, the giggles turn into breathy moans and she understands right away what is happening on her roommate’s bedroom. She can’t believe how egoistic Scott is being with her right now. She had put a big sign on the fridge door to let him know she was going to study and work on a paper due that following week. The girl knows they haven’t been talking since the day Patrick gave her a hug, hence why she put the warning on a place he would see it.

Tessa decides she has had enough of the current situation, especially after the moans intensify, coming up with a solution. She stomps until Scott’s bedroom door and hits it with her closed fists. Inside his quarters, Scott jumps surprised by the noise.

“Can you keep your morning sex quiet?” The young woman half-shouts. “I’m trying to study on the living room but you’re being too loud!” She goes back to the living room, starts her computer and opens Spotify. She searches for a specific song, turns the volume onto the max and presses play. She grins wickedly, just waiting for what will happen next.

Meanwhile, Scott starts feeling more awake thanks to the mild hangover he’s having at the moment, not really processing Tessa’s angry words immediately. He snuggles the girl (Andy? Amy?) again, resuming what they stopped. And that’s when the loud music starts.

 _What you gon' do with all that junk_  
_All that junk inside your trunk?_  
_I'ma get-get-get-get you drunk_  
_Get you love drunk off my hump_

As soon as the boy realizes which song is been played, he springs from his bed, getting a sweatpants that was lying on the floor, practically running towards the living room.

 _My hump, my hump_  
_My hump, my hump, my hump_  
_My hump, my hump, my hump_ _  
My lovely lady lumps, check it out!_

“What the fuck, Tessa?” He growls, with a look of pure anger on his face directed at her.

“ _I’m_ the one who gets to ask what the actual fuck, Scott!” She responds on the same tone.

“It’s Saturday morning and _normal_ people usually stay in bed longer, you know?” He’s trying to find a logical reason of why the girl is so angry at him for living his own life, but fails.

“Yes, it _is_ Saturday morning, but if you looked at your damn phone you would it’s already past 10am, Scott!” The girl stands her ground. “And each person has their own lives and their own things to do, like I was doing it myself! I just asked for you and your fuck buddy to keep things down but apparently you aren’t capable of such feature!”

As their argument gets more heated, the redhead feels embarrassed, gets dressed quickly, and heads for the door, stopping to look at the roommates.

“Hey...” she calls, feeling like she’s intruding something she shouldn’t be taking a part of. Scott turns to return her gaze. “I think I’m gonna head out now.” She gestures on the door’s direction. Scott walks to her, with a hunger on his eyes, and pulls her in for a passionate kiss, trying to annoy Tessa even more.

“I’ll text you later, ahmmm...” He tells her, trying to remember her name, but failing.

“Amy.” He kisses her again, for good measure, and then she leaves the condo. Scott smirks to himself, thinking of how that may have bothered his roommate.

Tessa just shakes her head while watching the scene in front of her unfold. _How typical_ , she thinks. She goes to her room to change her clothes and grab her backpack, wishing notto stay another moment in the same place Scott is at.

He turns around to continue the discussion with the girl, but just hears some loud steps coming from her room and waits for her return to the living room. When she does, the young woman pass by him as if he wasn’t there, always shoving him out of her path.

He can’t hold himself back seeing her in such distress. “Why are you being such a bitch?”

“I don’t know, Scott!” She continues gathering her things, not paying much attention to the boy in front of her. “Maybe it's because you were so loud with your morning sex session while I was writing a paper, that is _so important_ for one of my classes that I had put a damn warning on the refrigerator door!” She gestures to the kitchen while closing her backpack and he sees a big and colorful sign indicating she’s right.

Only when he focus his gaze back in the hallway, she’s already gone from the apartment. Scott knows then that what he feels for Tessa won’t go away with a single one-night. She’s not a simple crush for him.

After she leaves the apartment building, Tessa stops to catch a well deserve coffee at Tim Hortons. She pulls her phone whilst waiting for her order to be done and calls the one person that knows the story through and through, Jordan.

“Hey Jord, thank God you picked up. I’m so angry, _so_ angry. You have no idea what he did, I just wanna punch his face. I swear, that’s what he deserves. Maybe this way no girl would want to sleep with him, and I would have some peace and quiet for once.”

“Tess, jeez, calm down girl. What happened? We’re talking about Scott, right?”

“Of course we’re talking about Scott, who else could it be?” Her sister laughs on the other side. “Remember that I have this _really_ important paper that I need to get done, and that I couldn’t have _any_ distractions? So Scott and I haven’t been talking, because he’s being a jerk for whatever reason, so I left a note on the fridge at least a week ago to make sure that he saw it, and he had the nerves to have super loud sex this morning with one of his little friends that he meets at bars, whose name, let me add, he didn’t even remember in the morning. I’m so frustrated. And then he says I’m being a bitch? Go have sex elsewhere, I don’t need to hear other girls’ moans.” She stops for a second and then remembers more, continuing her rambling. “ _Oh,_ and then when she was about to leave they even had a little makeout session in the hallway, like spending the whole night and good portion of morning shoving their tongues inside each others’ mouths and with their private parts inside the other wasn’t enough.”

“Well T, as frustrating as it sounds, it looks to me that you’re just really jealous of her...” Tessa notices the teasing tone on her sister’s voice.

“ _What?_ How can you say that?! I just wanted a quiet ambient to do my own thing and he ruined that for me on the place I should feel at home while being so far from my actual home!”

“Ok, with you putting like that, it makes total sense. And yes, he was a big jerk.” Jordan concedes. “But the way you described how loud they were being makes me wonder another thing as well about your frustration towards Scott…”

“Ugh, you’re hopeless, Jo! Just stay on my side for this!”

“I _am_ on your side! But as a good sister, I need to point out what I’m gathering from what you shared with me.” She points out.

“Okay, fine!” She sighs. “I appreciate you sharing your point of view, even if it’s totally invalide. Thank you again for listening my rambling, Jord!”

“Anytime, sis.”

“So now tell me how are things going for you!”

~~~

On the next Saturday afternoon, Scott comes home and finds Tessa and Chiddy on the couch, in front of the TV, laughing together over a TV show. They had just finished watching some videos of the Challenger Series that happened over the summer, and were now watching Friends. The girl had actually never watched it before, but it was her new friend’s favourite show, so she decided to give it a shot.

“Humm, I didn’t know you guys were on a date… I’ll just go to my room. I’m sorry.” The boy feels numb for not realizing what was happening right behind his back. He wishes there was a hole right under his feet so he could hide.

“What!? Scott, we’re not on a date! Do you want to join us?” Chiddy gestures towards Tessa and the television, patting the space available on the couch. “We have popcorn, and I know you _love_ Friends.”

The girl stays quiet through the boys’ conversation and he takes her silence as a sign to leave the room. “No, it’s fine, I’ll be in my room if you guys need anything, or if you want to hang out later.”

Scott goes to his room and lays on his bed. For the first time in a while, he’s feeling sad. Not frustrated. Just sad, humiliated and betrayed by his friend. They were supposed to be best friends, how could be do this to him, when he knew perfectly his feelings towards Tessa, and how hard it has been for him to accept them.

He’s so lost in his own thoughts when he hears a knock on his door. It was Chiddy.

“Hey man, can we talk?” He asks, still by the door.

“Why? Did your girlfriend have to leave?” Scott bites back, feeling angry.

He sighs deeply, plainly understanding Scott didn’t understand his relationship with former athlete. “She’s not my girlfriend, and in case you forgot she lives here.” The boy points out. “Anyway, that’s not the point. This is not what you think it is. I know why you got so upset, and you got it all wrong.”

“I did not get it all wrong. I have eyes, and I see perfectly fine. And what I’ve seen is you and Tessa getting cozy on the living room and…” Chiddy cuts him, feeling the need to clear things up for his friend.

“Stop, Scott. We’re _not_ dating. The only things I feel about Tessa is friendship, utter admiration and respect for everything she went through on her competitive career. I just want to be friends with her, that’s all.” He clarifies. “I know how you feel about her, and I would never break your trust and our friendship like that. I feel like a proud brother towards her. Like I told you on the other day, she’s been feeling a little disoriented over the end of her competitive career, and I’m just trying to help her having fun and getting her mind off of those things.” The boy can’t help but see the look of sheer hopefulness on his friend’s face.

“Speaking about that, I…” he clears his throat. “I didn’t know you followed the sport. That’s why you knew her right away when I mentioned her, right? Why didn’t you ever tell me and Andrew?”

“I don’t know, you guys were always acting like hockey was the _superior_ sport, and that figure skating was lame…” The boy shares. “And as a kid I did figure skating to improve my hockey, like you did too, and I actually liked it. But all the other boys in my rink made fun of me when I got excited for getting a new skill, and I guess I just thought you guys would make fun of me too.”

“You didn’t need to hide like that.” Scott tells in a kind manner. “I know we make fun of figure skaters and all, and I’m sorry if we’ve ever hurt your feelings with that, but I think deep inside I kind of respect them? I mean, they make all these jumps and spins, and all we do is race across the rink after a puck. I’m sorry if we’ve ever made you feel that you couldn’t be yourself. That’s not what being a good friend is.”

“It’s okay. I guess after a while I kind of started believing that I hated figure skating too…” The two friends hugged and patted each other on the back. “So, we’re good now? You’re really convinced that I don’t like Tessa at all?”

“Yeah, it’s all good. I’m sorry for being a douche sometimes.” He gives Chiddy another pat on the back and the boy leaves his room.

That night, Scott decides to search Tessa Virtue on YouTube, seeing for himself actually how amazing his roommate was. Obviously, the first video he finds is her performance that earned her the gold medal the whole country had talked about, the ladies free skate, where she skated to Pride and Prejudice. He finally recognizes the melody she was always whistling or humming. She performs jumps and spins he could never imagine she was capable of, feeling nothing but awe about the girl he’s slowly falling in love with.

After watching many performances of Tessa on senior and junior level, as well as some interviews, Scott have a new mindset: help her settle into her new life without figure skating competitions.

On the following days, Tessa notices the shift in his behaviour. She notices how he’s gotten much more attentive and caring. Even if he was already being careful before, she perceives the extra effort on his portion by not disturbing her while she’s studying, not being so loud when he’s watching a hockey game, or when he’s got his friends over, and (the most impressive change) that his interest in bringing other women home had dropped to a zero.

They occasionally meet in some bars (Montreal is big, but apparently their preferences in places to enjoy a night out is very similar), and she notices how he doesn’t even flirt with the girls he meets. And Scott is a very attractive young man, which means girls flirt with him, trying to make a move on him to get his attention, and yet, he keeps his attention aimed at her.

~~~

One evening, after dinner, Tessa sits on the couch, waiting for her favourite movie to start. Scott is on the other end of the couch on his laptop, finishing to write an essay he has due that week.

However, he notices how Tessa is slightly shivering, and offers to make some hot chocolate for her, knowing it’s her favourite. “Do you mind if I make you some hot chocolate? You look like you need it. You’re shivering there, kiddo.” Tessa smiles at the use of the nickname.

“If you insist… I guess I could need a hot drink right now.” She shrugs.

Scott goes to make the chocolate in the kitchen while Tessa adjusts herself better on the couch, pulling a blanket close by. Once he finishes preparing the beverage, he puts a handful of small marshmallows on it and make his way back to the couch, sitting next to her and giving her the mug.

Tessa tastes the hot chocolate and moans a little at the heat spreading through her body, and the amazing taste of chocolate, that never leaves her disappointed. “This is actually really good. Five points to Scott Moir!” She does her best Dumbledore impression, which makes Scott laugh at how much of a nerd she is.

“Hey only five points? I thought it was really good!” He tries to sound offended, but his mocking expression contradicts him.

“It’s hot chocolate, not a stew, Scott!” They’re both laughing at this point.

“Well, hot chocolate that you can’t even make!” She lets a defeated sigh come out and he notices it, so he quickly adds. “But if it makes you happy I’ll cook a stew for you some other day.” To this Tessa gives a small happy grin, and changes the subject.

“Do you want to watch a movie with me?” She questions, even though there’s a big probability he’ll say no. “This channel is going to play the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice in a bit, it’s my favourite _ever_.”

Scott couldn’t help notice the excitement that she radiates as she talked about the movie, which prevented him from saying no. A sense of curiosity comes into him too, as he never watched the movie before.

Halfway through the movie, the hot chocolate had already been drank, and they were both wrapped in blankets. During a commercial break, Scott turns to Tessa, silently takes the mug from her hands and goes to the kitchen, forming a thought that he decides to share when he settles again next to her on the couch.

“I know you skated to this movie’s soundtrack on the Olympics. I’ve never told you, but congratulations.” He sees the girl hiding her face, so that he wouldn’t see her blushing, which obviously doesn’t work for her. He places a hand on her knee, as if trying to tell her that it’s alright, and that she doesn’t have to hide her emotions and her pride on her achievement.

“Thanks, that’s really kind of you.” It was all she could say. She turned her head back to the movie, but her mind was a million miles away. All she can think about is the delicious hot chocolate he made for her, without her request, and how he complimented her skating, as well as how suddenly his hand had moved from her knee and was now around her shoulders. All of that, and the past days’ events made her annoyance decrease towards him, allowing her to relax and enjoy the moment, as she feels herself drifting off to sleep in his embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let us know what you think! 
> 
> Coming up, Thanksgiving!


	5. Flashbacks and echoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets are revealed when it’s time to head back home for Thanksgiving...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, shout out to Sofia for being our beta and really encouraging us to keep writing and improving, as well and the girls in our writers support gc.  
> Also, thanks to all the people who have reached out to us asking when we were going to update (sorry we took so long), and who stuck with us in this story.
> 
> The title comes from Taylor Swift's Red.

 

October rolls around before Tessa and Scott notice and, being Canadians as they are, they start to get ready to head back home for Thanksgiving. Despite becoming almost friends since the young man changed his attitudes, they still haven’t shared much about their pasts and their families.

On the Wednesday that precedes the holiday, Scott brings up the subject when they are eating dinner, cooked by him (steak and mashed potatoes, his favorite).

“Tess, aren’t you excited about going home for Thanksgiving?” He asks the girl, maybe a bit too loud, considering she was sitting right in front of him.

She looks at him, finally understanding the understanding the motive behind the way Chiddy called him an “energizer bunny” - he speaks and acts over things with such a rush of energy. “Yeah, I guess.”

“What do you mean ‘I guess’?” He’s surprised by her neutral tone. “Thanksgiving is the best holiday besides Christmas! There’s your family, the amazing food, being at home, it’s the best feeling.”

“Your point of view isn’t wrong.” She tries to sound cheerful, but the boy can see right through her facade.

“Oh, c’mon, lighten up, Tess. Is everything okay?” He inquires, and on impulse, brushes his left hand along her right one that still holding the cutlery.

“No, it’s fine, I’m feeling a little headache. I’m gonna lie down and read something in my room after this.” She shrugs, glancing at his hand next to her own.

Scott gazes at his roommate with intent, noting how she’s avoiding the subject and decides to let her be.  _Maybe something happened on past Thanksgiving holidays and it brings bad memories for her_ , he reasons.

“Do you need a hand cleaning things up? You made dinner, already. And, by the way, it was delicious.” She honestly praises the meal, peeking at her empty plate then looking up to her roommate to show her appreciation over it.

“Nah, it’s fine. Just go take a medicine and relax while I deal with the dishes. Just...” He hesitates for a moment, overthinking and feeling worried about her. “Just let me know if you need anything.”

The girl gets up, says a low “thank you for the dinner” to him and goes to her room. She lies on the bed, looking at the ceiling, not really having a headache or in the mood to read a book. She feels excited to go back for the holiday and see her family. But she also feels anxious about a certain dinner her family has always attended since she learned to skate.

In the living room, Scott glances at the girl’s bedroom door. His mind is going through every single action of his on the previous days, wondering if he did something to disturb and cause her current behaviour.

~~~

Thursday comes and goes with the roommates packing for their travel while still attending classes, training (for Scott) and pilates (for Tessa). Even though they enjoy a nice breakfast together, the young man can’t shake the feeling of wariness coming from the girl he has come to realize he’s probably in love with.

A million thoughts run through Scott’s mind during the day. He thinks about where she’ll travel for the holiday, if she has a special someone waiting for her, if she’ll miss his company on next few days. He inhales deeply while pressing the heels of his hands on his face, trying to focus again on the lecture he had to go with Chiddy.

His friend notices how Scott is only physically present, while his mind seems to be somewhere else, having a guess about where (or who) exactly his thoughts are focused on and smirks to himself, knowingly.

“Hey”, Patrick nudges his friend’s arm, “is everything okay?”

“I don’t know, man. I thought things were looking up with Tessa, but since Monday it feels like she’s distant from me again.” Scott confides. “And before you ask if I did something wrong, I didn’t. okay. I’m making a real effort on being a good roommate for her, but maybe it’s because of Thanksgiving, who knows?”

“Yeah, maybe she isn’t that happy to go back.” Chiddy agrees. Little does Scott knows his friend tries to find out with Tessa what is going on with her through text, later that night, and gets nothing in reply.

~~~

Scott leaves first on Friday night, and due to this flight being scheduled for 9pm, Tessa wouldn’t be able to say goodbye in person since she and Kaitlyn had their joined assignment to present on the class they have together.

The blonde girl sees how her friend keeps shaking her left leg in an anxious way. “Can you stop that? It’s making

anxious. And you know I don’t like to do oral presentations.”

Tessa looks at her startled. “What?”

Kaitlyn then understands the girl wasn't probably even noting what she was doing.

“Just… stop doing that with your leg. I'm getting anxious and you need to be here, because I can't present this work alone.”

“Sorry, Kait, you're right. I'm just nervous about Thanksgiving, that's all.”

“Ah, I see. The moment of truth is coming, right?” She asks the brunette nods in reply. “Well, we can talk about it this, okay? And I'm gonna take you to the airport tomorrow, so I can help you ease your worries.” She says while pinching her friend's leg playfully.

Tessa smiles with that. “Thank you, Kait.”

On the following morning, after Kaitlyn leaves her at Montreal-Trudeau, Tessa grips her suitcase and backpack a little bit tighter and thinks to herself:

~~~

The flight goes smoothly and Tessa, being lost in her own thoughts and anxiety, soon sees the view of her hometown approaching. She really missed it, although, in this moment, she just wishes she could avoid this place. She can’t wait to finally hug her mother and her sister again, and feel that sense of being home again.

She misses the smell of homemade food that her mother used to make her and how she was always on her back, making sure she wasn’t cold or hungry or didn’t need anything, even if it annoyed her a little. She misses wandering through the streets of London and recognizing everything and everyone, going out for ice cream or coffee with her sister, and even when she tried to set her up with every hot dude in town, because  _“you’re the most successful figure skater in Canada, Tess, you can do whatever you want.”_ She misses her brothers, how they sweetly call her Sam, and always want to know what she has been up to. She pities not having the chance of being with them more growing up.

She had moved away from home at a young age, and they are much older than her, which means that soon they were living their own lives too, and they never got the chance to interact much as kids. Basically, she misses her family and their love. There’s nothing better than a mom’s hug, a girls night out with your sister, and your older brothers giving you life advices that you might find ridiculous at first. However, all of this can’t shake away the feeling that something is gonna go terribly wrong this weekend, and she wishes she could avoid it.

After getting her bag (she was only staying for four days, which means that she could fit everything in one suitcase), she goes to look for her mother and sister, who are already waiting for her by the Arrivals section. When she sees them, she starts running towards them and gives them both a big hug.

“Did you really miss me that much?” Her sister mocks her at her extreme reaction.

“Shut up, you know I did.” Tessa laughs with tears in her eyes.

“Oh my little Tessa, it’s so good to have you home. I know I’ve been saying this for years, but London isn’t the same without you.” Kate moves back from Tessa’s hug, to give a full look to her daughter. She notices how she’s still in great shape, even though she’s not competing anymore, and wonders if she’s been exercising too much to distract herself from the fact that she’s not competing anymore, if she’s been eating well and taking her vitamins, sleeping enough… “You’ve been eating, right? And going to bed at reasonable hours? You don’t overwork just to get good grades, do you?” She knows how her daughter can be when she feels stressed and anxious with school work. And the fact that she’s a perfectionist and always strives for being on top, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, doesn’t help either.

“Yes, I have been eating, and I have been sleeping enough. You’re being a mother hen!” She gives her mother another hug. “But I missed you and your crazy mom nonsense so much.” In that moment, she might be hugging Kate a little to tight, but it’s exactly what she needs to calm her mind for a bit.

They start heading to the car, with Kate leading the way. The two girls get a little behind to gossip and just catch up on almost two months of being apart.

“So, are you ready for the party this weekend? You must be feeling a little stressed with all this…”

“Stressed is an understatement, but you know what? It’s Thanksgiving, I’m here with my family and I just want to enjoy these four days with you guys. And maybe he’s not even gonna be there, we don’t know.” She sounds like she was trying to convince herself more than her sister, which is probably true.

“Sure, sis, sure, because that makes _so_ much sense. But I’m glad you want to enjoy these days. I really missed annoying you. Look at that guy there, what do you think?” She pointed to a random guy who was passing by at the same time she threw her free arm around the younger girl’s shoulder.

Maybe it’s all gonna change in a few days, but, in that moment, Tessa feels like she has never left and everything is just like before.

~~~

Tessa arrives to the gathering accompanied by her sister, her two brothers and her mother. More than in any other time, she would definitely need them today to help her go through the day. Only Jordan knew the reason of her excessive anxiety. She hadn’t had the courage to tell her mother and her brothers yet. She knows that today is going to change everything, as much as she wishes she could avoid it. He would finally know, and it would be a turning point in the little friendship they start having.

When they arrive, Tessa immediately spots  _him_ , talking to another girl, seeming a little too intimate than she would rather. He doesn’t see her, but just the sight in front of her makes her stomach turn. It all brings back memories. Exactly one year ago, she had been in the exact same situation, except she knew what could be waiting for her. She knew that she would stare in the distance, seeing him talking and flirting with every female human being present. She knew he would never see her. But today she thought it would be different, that he had changed. She doesn’t want to be noticed, not this time. But she didn’t want to see him with them either.

“Tessa, are you alright? Do you need to talk?” Her thoughts are interrupted by her Jordan’s voice.

“No, I’m- I thought it would be different this time, that’s all. I thought _he_ was really different.” There’s disappointment clear on her voice.

As soon as they finish saying hello to all the guests in the backyard, the two girls head to the kitchen, where the matriarch of the family is doing some last minute preparations, with their mother. When the older woman sees them approaching her, she nearly jumps in excitement.

“Oh look at you, if it isn’t my two favourite London girls! Oh, it’s been too long. Give me a hug!” The girls almost considered her close family and were equally excited to see her, so they happily oblige.

Out of a sudden, a loud noise erupts in the kitchen, boys laughing, being loud and typically, well, boys.

“Oh kids, the Virtues are here! Have you said hi to the girls?” She asks, calling out her sons.

Tessa turns and the person she least expects to see is there on the kitchen too.

“Tessa?! What- What are you doing here? I’m- How do you know my mom? What’s happening?” While Scott is noticeably perplexed, Tessa is speechless. She can’t move, being locked in Alma’s embrace, and the only thing she wants is for the floor to swallow her. She feels like she’s gonna puke.

“What do you mean, Scotty? Tessa and her family have been coming to our Thanksgiving gathering for over a decade!” She looks at her son, a question clear on her commonly gentle eyes.

“Wait, what? Did you know about this?” He points at Tessa.

“Scott, what’s going on? It’s not like you’ve never seen Tessa before. You’re acting weird.” His mother questions. 

“Ma, Tessa and I are roommates in Montreal.” He shakes his head, trying to grasp the current moment. “I’m... confused. She’s been coming to our gatherings? I… don’t remember her.” He confesses, with a defeated sigh.  _How come I never noticed her?_ , he keeps asking himself.

“Of course you don’t, because you’re a jackass.” Danny bites back.

Tessa excuses herself, not wanting to hear another excuse from him. She ends up in a small corner of the basement, her usual hiding spot on the Moir gatherings.

“Scotty, why didn’t you tell me you and Tessa were roommates?” His mother looks thrilled to know the news. “The world is such a small place. Oh, but I’m so happy, Tutu is such an amazing girl, so polite, so hardworking. I hope you’re learning from her, Scott!”

“Oh my God!” One of Scott’s brothers, Danny, joins the conversation, realizing something. “Are you telling me that Tutu is the hot roommate you keep talking about?! This is just getting better!”

“I- do you remember her, Charlie?” He turns to his other brother that just got into the kitchen. “Why am I the only one who had never seen her in my life?”

“That’s because you spent every year trying to get into Cassandra’s and Jessica’s pants and didn’t even notice anyone else.” He points out.

Scott swallows hard at Charlie’s comeback, because as cruel as it is, he has to recognize his brother is being completely honest.

He sits on the living room couch, suddenly feeling out of the breath by what just occurred.

The young man tries to remember anything about her from the previous Thanksgiving gatherings and fails to find something related to Tessa.

 ~~~

_Thanksgiving 2015_

_“Oh hey! You’re one of the Virtues, right? Humm, Jane?” He asks, already flirting with her._

_“Try Jordan, sweetie. But if you’re looking for Jane you’re probably referring to my little sister here, Tessa Jane. Beautiful, nice girl, good skater as well, I really think you guys will get along just fine.” He notices how she pulls the other girl closer to them, as if enticing her to talk. She’s shorter and looks visibly younger._

_“Oh no, I do believe I’m looking for you.” He points at her and smirks. “You’re some hot stuff. Do you want to come upstairs with me? We can have some fun, I know these parties can become a little boring.” That’s when the other girl huffs and leaves._

_“Look, Moir, I know you’re used to getting your way with girls, but not with me. And I know that’s not how your parents have raised you because your brothers and I are great friends. So perhaps you should learn a thing or two with them about how to treat women before you speak to me again. Mess with people of your own age, kid! And if I know that you’re trying to get it with my sister, you’re a dead man.” She gives him a death glare._

_“Oh, so you have a sister?” He really has not paid attention to anything that has been happening. She smacks the back of his head._

_“Grow up!” She yells._

_That’s when he learns not to mess with Jordan Virtue._

_~_

_Thanksgiving 2016_

_He sees a girl approaching him with a smile on her face. Pretty, but not who he’s looking for that night._

_“Hi, Scott. I saw you there alone and I was wondering…” He cuts her off._

_“Hi. Do you know Jessica? Brunette, hair by her shoulders, kinda like yours, hummm good boobs? Have you seen her?” He asks while gesturing with his hands._

_“I haven’t but-” He interrupts her once again._

_“Oh there she is. Gotta go before she changes her mind. I’m already too bored in this party. Great seeing you, hummm...” He realises he doesn’t know her name._

_“Tessa.” She speaks with a tone of annoyance._

_“Right. See you around.” He hurries after the girl he’s looking for._

_~_

_Thanksgiving 2017_

_He’s in his room with Cassandra, his date for the party. They have finally managed to sneak out of the dining room without anyone noticing. If his mom knows he’s taking girls to his room he’s a dead man. Although he doesn’t understand why his brothers can and he can’t. He just wants to have some fun._

_They were finally getting hot and heavy when they hear a knock on the door._

_“Who is it?” He yells._

_“It’s Tessa.” The girl’s voice is almost a whisper._

_“Look, I don’t know who you are but I’m busy here so I suggest that you leave, okay?” He shifts his attention back to the girl right under him on the bed._

_“I just came to tell you that your mom is looking for you. I didn’t think you would want her to find you, that’s all.” The girl replies. He huffs at her insistence._

_“That’s very considerate of you but you can leave now, thank you.” He yells again through the door and shifts his full attention back to Cassandra._

_~~~_

Thinking about those moments, he now realises that it’s always been her and his memories become more vivid. He also feels ashamed for his past behaviour, trying so hard to impress the girls that usually were invited to his family’s dinner. And finally understands why Tessa was so cautious on every interaction they had in Montreal until he changed his ways.

After what it felt like hours had passed, Scott feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up and sees Charlie eyeing him with a concerned expression. “Hey, man, are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah…” He answers automatically, but then decides to confess what was going through his mind. “I was just thinking a lot about things and what happened today.”

“I get it, you were a jackass up until this year. But I can see that you have been changing that. Just look how you are all bothered that you mistreated TVirtue in the past!” Charlie points out. “Just don’t rush your feelings onto her, okay? You need to fix what you have done first.”

His brother gives him a gentle tap on his shoulder and leaves him to his thoughts.  _Charlie is right, I need to clean up my mess_ , he thinks. He gets up and goes to the bathroom, but stops when he sees Jordan and Kate talking.

“Maybe I should go see if Tessa is okay. She hasn’t been here in a while and dinner will be probably almost ready.” The younger woman says.

“Jordan, please, let me do that. I caused this mess, it should be me fixing it.” He tries to show how sincere he is with the request.

“I don’t think you should, Scott. Not after the mess you made.” She crosses her arms and gives him a daring look, while her mom looks between them trying to understand the reason behind the boy’s plea and her daughter’s negative answer.

“Please, Jordan, I’m begging you. Let me to go to her.” He looks at her like a puppy that has been kicked.

“Okay fine, just make sure you don’t make it worse, alright? She should be in the basement. She always is.” She concedes, noticing how honest he seems to be with his intentions to talk to her baby sister.

“Thank you so much, Jordan”. He gives a quick hug and starts moving towards his destination, practically running. When Scott gets to the basement door, he inhales deeply and starts climbing down the stairs.

“Tessa?” He asks carefully, not wanting to hurt her even more. Scott hears a sniffing noise coming from a hidden corner behind some boxes and knows that her sister was right about her location. She’s sitting with her head between her knees. When she speaks, her voice sounds like she had been crying.

“Get away from me! Haven’t you done enough?” She pulls her legs closer to her torso, physically protecting herself from him. The image makes the boy slap himself on the face for hurting her.

“Tessa, please, just hear me out. I promise you won’t hear of me for the rest of the day, if you don’t want to.” She finally looks at him, and his guess is right. Her eyes are swollen and red. She nods, and Scott takes this as a signal to start talking. He kneels down, to get in her level and look at her in the eyes. He feels the urge of taking her hand into his, take all her pain away, but he knows that would only make Tessa close up to him even more.

“You have every right to be mad at me. I know what I did has no excuse. Trust me, I’m feeling so disappointed, angry and frustrated with myself. And I’m not saying this to get your pity. You should never speak to me again, I know. I’m a shallow jackass who only cares about looks and boobs. And if I knew how amazing you’ve always been and I wasn’t so full of myself, none of this would be happening and you would have the roommate and the friend you deserve.” The tears in her eyes start rolling again.

“That’s… Thanks for all of that. I just really want to be alone right now, just to process everything, if you don’t mind. I’ll go back up as soon as I’m ready. Just tell my mother and my sister not to worry, please.”

“Ok, I’ll do that.” Before exiting the room, he remembers the other motive to go after her. “And dinner is almost ready”.

Scott goes back upstairs and sits on the larger couch between Jordan and Cara, sharing to the brunette the message from her sister - she is (somewhat) okay. She patts his knee in reassurance. She knows that he has changed. The 2017 version of Scott wouldn’t worry about her little sister like that, he would definitely not go to the basement to make sure she was okay. She can see that he is hurting too and that his face is still filled with confusion and regret. She doesn’t know what the deal is between those two, but she is happy to see that Scott is, at least, trying. Her heart warms up thinking about what her little sister would be feeling, had she not been so tired of the guy’s bullshit. She would be squealing inside, and that makes her happy. She still stands by the theory that her sister still likes Scott a lot, even if it’s all now hidden with frustration, and in this moment, she is rooting that the two stubborn young adults can work their problems out and find a way to be together, like they both clearly want.

Alma finally calls everyone to the dinner table, and Jordan goes to the basement to get her sister. Jordan sits next to their mom, with Tessa right next to her. Scott finds himself sitting right in front of Tessa. He tries to tell her something with his eyes, mostly that he is sorry, once again, but she keeps staring at her empty plate, refusing to look up.

“Before we start eating, why don’t we say what we’re all thankful for this year?” The matriarch asks, reminding the traditional moment in every Thanksgiving gathering. “Why don’t we start with you, Scotty?”

“This year, apart from my family and my friends, I’m thankful that I got to meet a wonderful girl who has definitely changed my life.” He shifts in his chair, and tries once more to make eye contact with the subject of his Thanksgiving speech. She doesn't meet his gaze. “I know that I have disappointed her big time, but I hope that with time I’ll get to fix it and that she’ll somehow forgive me. So thank you, Tessa, for coming into my life and being the best housemate I could have ever asked for.”

Tessa looks at him with a deadly glare, mumbles something that sounds a lot like "Excuse me, I can't take this anymore" and storms out of the dinner table. While Scott stares after her, both of their families shift their attention between her sudden exit and his heartbroken expression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alexa, play Look What You (VM drama) Made Me Do
> 
> Come yell at us on the comments or over twitter (@anathefangirI and @nicknotkidman)!


	6. One of us had to go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What the day after Thanksgiving brings to Tessa and Scott…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you all for the comments, kudos, hits and messages to us about this fic. Thank you Nathy for checking the errors on this chapter and Ana for being so patient with my lack of inspiration on some days (team work makes the dream work!)
> 
> The chapter title comes from Abba's/Mamma Mia soundtrack's "One of Us".

Scott wakes up the next morning feeling numb. How can it be possible that just two days ago he had felt that he was finally getting somewhere with Tessa, and now they are back to square one? Hell, they are back to negative squares actually. He wishes he could just erase his stupid behaviour of the past years, but he can’t, so he decides to try to fix what he broke.

He decides to text Tessa, asking if they can meet to talk. He’s honestly not even expecting an answer, but he has to try. He’s still laying on his bed when he hears his phone beeping. What he sees on his screen makes him jump off the bed and start the day.

_“The Bag Lady in 30 minutes.”_

Even if the text is short and cold, it’s still more than what he was expecting. He chooses to wear some of his best clothes. Not that he is trying to impress her, that’s not his goal, but looking good doesn’t hurt. He also decides not to put gel in his hair. She had told him once that he looked better without it.

He runs downstairs to tell his mum he’s heading out. When he sees her, he tells her good morning and kisses her cheek. Once he’s almost at the door, he sees Alma going after him.

“Aren’t you going to eat breakfast, son?” She’s always worries about her sons' health.

“No, I’m having breakfast with Tessa at The Bag Lady, in London. I have to fix this, ma.” He declares with a resolve clear on his mind.

“Okay, okay, I won’t stall you then. Good luck!”

“Thanks!” He yells already from the outside, on his way to his car.

As soon as he approaches The Bag Lady, he spots her. She looks beautiful, obviously, but the lack of sleep is clear in her eyes. Scott wishes he could just hug her and make everything okay again, especially because he caused it, but he’s probably the last person she wants to hug right now.

“Hey, sorry I kept you waiting.” His face shows sorrow. Not only for being late, but for everything he did.

“No, it’s okay, I just got here anyway.” The waiter approaches their table with the menus, and Tessa gives him a sympathetic smile, which makes Scott’s jaw clench. “Thank you.”

Scott barely looks at the menu before he starts talking.

“Tessa, I’m really so sorry. So, so sorry. I wish we could go back and I wouldn’t be a jerk teenager with jumping hormones.”

“Yeah. You already said that.” She keeps an indifferent tone, not even bothering to look up from her menu.

“I really am sorry, Tess.” He tries to reach for her hand, but she backs away.

“Don’t be sorry, Scott. What’s done is done. And you can’t undo the fact that you were a jerk during all my life. Maybe you don’t remember, but I do, and I can’t help how I’m feeling. Do you know how hard it feels not being noticed by the one person you wish would notice you the most? No, you don’t. You’ve always had your way with girls, and I was never one of them. Why, Scott? Because I never had the best looks or the best boobs or whatever? I’m sorry if I was so busy being a successful figure skating and representing our country. I’m sorry that my sport, the one thing that has always been a constant in my life, changed my body in ways that no man will ever want me. I’m sorry for doing a sport that you hate. I’m sorry that everyone thinks that I’m as cold as the ice I stepped on everyday of my life for eleven years. I’m sorry that everyone thinks that I can’t love and be loved. But you know what? I have feelings too.. And I think you’ve hurt them beyond repair.” She’s so focused on her rambling that she doesn’t seem to notice that she almost confessed the crush she had on him. He doesn’t seem to notice either.

“Tessa, stop.” He throws his hands, previously resting on his lap, on the table in front of the girl, and raises his voice a little, just to catch her attention. However, she’s determined to let _him_ listen to a few things she has to say.

“No. You’re gonna listen until I’m done. I’m tired of everyone treating me like trash. My dad, my ‘friends’, Skate Canada, the ISU, you. And maybe all this time I was too busy and too focused on skating and winning that I didn’t notice that, but I still have a little self-respect and I wanna take the toxicity and negativity out of my life. Montreal was supposed to be a fresh start. And I met great people, Kait and Chiddy have been showing constant support and understanding. But then you came, and I thought I could pretend everything was fine, and I did, and I even actually believed it, until this weekend. And now I don’t think I can keep pretending.”

“What? Tessa…” He can’t believe this is happening, wishing nothing more for it to be a bad dream. _This can’t be happening_ , he keeps repeating to himself.

“No, Scott, just…”

“Please hear me for a minute.” He pleas. “I promise I’ll let you go then. You are so beautiful, Tess, and these two months that I’ve lived with you have been some of the best of my life. You’re not like these girls, like Cassandra or Jessica, you’re more than just looks, and that’s all that matters. You’re so smart, funny, fearless, ambitious, and you have the prettiest laugh in the world. I admire you so much. Maybe I don’t always show it, but I do care about you. I just hope one day you’ll get to forgive me so I can try to give you all you deserve.”

“That’s all really beautiful to hear, but actions speak louder than words.” She gets up to leave, not even ordering or eating.

“What does that mean?” He doesn’t understand what could have happened during the previous day gathering.

“The first thing I saw when I arrived at your family’s house yesterday was you getting all cozy with another girl. If you really care so much about me like you said, why would you do that? Because you thought I wouldn’t be there to see? I thought you had changed, Scott, but I guess I was wrong. And I don’t think I could ever trust someone like you. Goodbye, Scott. It was nice to see you again.” She looks at him one last time and leaves him alone at the coffee shop, with teary eyes.

The young man puts his head between his hands, thinking about how much he ruined his relationship with Tessa, while trying to understand the possible meanings behind her “goodbye”.

“Hey man, are you ordering or not?” The waiter asks with a clear tone of annoyance on his voice.

Scott closes his eyes, sighs deeply and answers: “Yeah. It will be a coffee to go, please.”

~~~

After leaving the coffee shop, Tessa doesn’t feel driving back home, so she takes her phone and headphones out of her coat pockets, plucks them on, and selects her music library to play on shuffle. Then she breathes deeply and starts to walk to unwind her mind.

As the distance from the coffee shop grows, she starts to feel a little less overwhelmed by the events of the previous day, while still feeling the need to vent before thinking about possible solutions over this whole mess she has with Scott.

The young woman walks through the residential streets of London, not paying too much attention to the songs coming through her headphones or even the fall scenery around her, when suddenly she arrives at Victoria Park.

Coincidentally, as Tessa looks around at the trees lacking leaves on its branches, with the majority of it being scattered all over the sidewalks and grass, a song starts to play through her headphones. She takes her phone out of her coat pocket, unlocks the screen and sees the music title - “One of Us”, from “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again” soundtrack.

The girl smiles bittersweetly at her phone, remembering that she had promised Jordan she would listen the whole soundtrack album before watching the movie together, as it was going to be released digitally today. While she kept her side of the promise, the recent events made the song currently playing hit a bit too close to her heart.

 _They passed me by, all of those great romances_ __  
_It's as if you're robbing me, of my rightful chances_ __  
_My picture clear, everything seemed so easy_ __  
_And so I dealt you the blow, one of us had to go_   
Now it's different, I want you to know

With the song coming to an end and changing to a completely different on her music library, the young woman thinks how much the landscape in front of her matches her current mood. She eyes an empty bench along the way, cleaning the dirt with her hands before taking a seat and starts to think.  

~~~

When Scott gets back home, he runs immediately to his room. Alma immediately knows something is up. Her son is usually the energizer bunny and when he’s home he’s either in the backyard or in the kitchen eating, so she decides to go talk to him.

She knocks three times and asks through the door: “Scott, can I come in, please? Can we talk?”

“Sure, ma.” He answers.

She comes in and sees Scott lying on his bed with his face buried in his pillow. “So, I’m assuming your date with Tessa didn’t go very well.”

“It wasn’t a date. And no, it didn’t go very well. In fact, I don’t think she ever wants to see my face again.” He speaks with a defeated expression on his face.

Alma gives a sympathetic gaze on his direction. “That bad, eh?”

“Yeah… I just… How could I be so stupid?” He turns towards his mother and sits resting his back on the headboard. “I had a great girl in front of me all this time and I blew it. How could I not see her? Was I really that dumb?”

“Oh, Scotty, you were young, we all do stupid things that we regret when we’re young. But what matters now is that you want to change and make it work.”

“Yeah, but Tessa doesn’t think like that.” He talks earnestly. “She hates me now, and she has every right to.”

“You need to give her time.” She talks with her motherly experience. “You guys were living in this bubble all this time, and she could just pretend that nothing had ever happened. But it’s all real now, and it’s all hitting her. You have to give her time to hurt. You’ll see that with time she’ll forgive you.”

“I really hope so, ma.” They hug for a few moments. Scott feeling slightly relieved that he’s able to have a honest conversation with his mom about Tessa and not feel judged about his past behaviour. After a few seconds of comfortable silence, he speaks again. “Hey ma. Could you maybe tell me more about Tessa? You seem to know her pretty well and… I want to know more about her.”

“Of course, honey!” Her eyes tear up a little seeing her son so hurt. She has never seen him in love, and she’s pretty sure this is it, and just wishes his son could be happy. She knows he deserves the treatment Tessa is giving him, but deep down she also knows how much of a wonderful man he became, who deserves nothing more than happiness and love and laughter, and she is almost certain that Tessa could provide that for him.

She gets up and disappears out of the room. Scott looks at her leaving with a confused face, not understanding why she was suddenly walking away. A few minutes later, she returns with a box in her hands.

“Tessa came to skate in our rink when she was only seven.” She hands him a photo, where you can see a bunch of tiny skaters.

“That’s her, right?” Scott points to a girl in a light green tutu. The freckles in her face are very noticeable, and she has cute bangs with her hair in a neat ponytail.

“Yes, she is! She was the best skater we had seen in a long time. Her mother put her in our rink because she wanted to learn how to skate for her school trip, but as soon as she stepped on the ice we all immediately saw how much of a natural she was. She was fast, had great footwork, and she landed an axel in her first try, which I had never seen.” Alma sounds like a proud momma and Scott looks at her with a beaming smile on his face. “She was always eager to learn more and more, and be better. She would stay longer at the rink after her practice was finished, because her mom was sometimes late to pick her up, and she watched the older girls do their programs tried to do what they were doing. Sometimes she actually did it. She was this cute little ball of determination.”

“She still is.” He shares in earnest. “You should see how hard she studies and how she focuses. She even forgets to eat. Sometimes I try to feed her but she’s very stubborn.”

“It’s great that you try to take care of her, Scotty. I’m so proud of you.” The woman is almost tearing up noting how much her youngest son changed since starting college. The move to a different city was good for him.

“Thanks, mum. I’m trying to be better, like you taught me.” Scott feels lightweight knowing his mom is proud of his personal growth.

“You know, you may not remember this but sometimes during practice you were jealous that there was a girl who was better than you. You came home and said ‘ _She’s not better than me, stop saying that, I’m not worse than a girl, and even if she is, she won’t be for long because I’m gonna work twice as hard to catch her’_.” She speaks coping his nervous childish manner as a nine year-old. “Sometimes when she stayed longer at the rink you used to race each other across the ice. You were both so fast and you had so much fun, it was a delight to see. I actually think you might have had a little crush on her when you were a little boy.”

That memory shines a light on his brain. “Hey, I remember that! She’s the girl?”

“Yes, she is.” She nods and then hands him a photo where you could see the two kids laughing skating after each other. “We all thought you guys would become great friends one day, but soon we realised that if she wanted to reach her full potential she needed to move. And that’s when she left to train with Ravi Walia, in Alberta.”

With all the history out in the open, the young man can’t help but express his curiosity over an aspect of his family’s relationship with Tessa’s. “So, why does her family come to our gatherings anyway?”

“Her mother has always been so grateful, Scott. Tessa soon became a successful skater, with lots of medals and winning international competitions, and Kate considers that we had a great role in that. We gave her daughter the love for skating and, for that, her mom was forever grateful to us.” She explains. “When Tessa left, she went to live with a guest family and Kate often came to talk to me about it, about how stressed and worried she was about her daughter. It’s not easy to let your child go, especially at such a young age, and this sport isn’t easy, especially on girls. It’s so judgy. She was worried that Tessa would let herself get affected by the negative comments. So we became great friends. She’s actually one of my best friends now.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.” He tells honestly. “I mean, I knew about the Virtues and Kate. I didn’t know you were so close. I just don’t understand how I never thought more about her last name.”

“Don’t worry about it, Scott.” She tranquilizes him. “It was unlikely that someone from Ilderton or London would end up moving in with you. And like you said, you were never friends with little Tutu, it’s normal that you didn’t connect the dots.”

“Yeah…” His mother tries to reassure him, but Scott still feels somewhat guilty and doubtful over his actions.

“Anyway, there’s more stuff here in this box.” She pushes the box further on his bed. “Photos, some videos of competitions, practices. Take a look at what you want, I’m sure you’ll find more stuff about Tessa there.”

“Thank you, ma. I think I’m gonna watch all of this in the living room, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, son, take your time.” Alma gives his son a warm smile and leaves the room, trying to give him some space and time to think.

Scott spends what feels like hours immerging in this whole other world that is their childhood. He feels more and more frustrated for not acknowledging the young girl before. He wishes he would have been old enough to remember those moments they spent together as kids. He wishes he wouldn’t have been so full of himself and actually stayed in figure skating longer so he would have made more memories with this special girl that came into his life so soon.

“Hey ma, I know that these are records from the rink but… do you think I could take some of these photos to Montreal?” He yells from the living room to his mother, who’s in the kitchen making lunch. He doesn’t know honestly how much of Tessa he is gonna be seeing in the next months. Her goodbye didn’t feel like just a _goodbye, see you next week_. It felt like a more permanent goodbye, and he can’t stop thinking about it. He wants to prepare himself for the worse and he needs those photos to have something to hold onto, in case what he is expecting happens. But he is not gonna continue making the same mistake. She may be ready for him to be out of her life, but he is not ready for her to be out of his, and he is gonna fight as hard as he can not to let that happen.

~~~

Back in London, things with Tessa aren’t looking good either. After wandering around London, thinking about her life and crying, she decides to come back home, not wanting to worry her mother and her sister.

As soon as she runs through the door, Kate notices her swollen red eyes and Tessa catches herself in her mother’s warm embrace.

“So, are you gonna explain me what’s happening?” The older woman feels concern for her baby daughter. “From what I’ve gathered it’s related to Scott Moir, right?”

“Yes. Can we talk in my room, please?” There was no one else at home, but she still yearned for the privacy and comfort of her room.

“Sure.” They go upstairs, Tessa always keeping her arm around her mother’s back, feeling the need of that physical contact now more than ever.

“So. Scott is my roommate, back in Montreal.” She somehow tries to avoid the subject, not wanting the tears to stream down her face again, now that she had finally managed to calm down.

“Yes, I got that too.” Kate says patiently, not wanting to pressure her daughter.

“It’s just making me _so_ frustrated, mom. Since the first moment, he acted like he didn’t know me at all! Which apparently he didn’t. And then, worst of all, he keeps trying his ways on me! While bringing girls home almost every night and flirting with anyone who has a pair of boobs. Does he think I’m stupid? Then he changed a little, I don’t know why, and I thought that maybe something had happened that made him open his eyes to his stupid behaviour, but from his actions at the Moirs gathering and our conversation this morning, I can see that he didn’t. At all!”

“Okay, okay, sweetie. Let’s go back a little, okay?” She can notice her daughter getting tensed up from the way she starts to raise her voice, which rarely happened. “What do you mean he didn’t know you? I thought you guys were friends?”

“Friends?” Tessa can’t hardly believe in her mom’s conclusions. “You mean I followed him around like a little puppy, so oblivious to his self centered behaviour, and he never once saw me because I didn’t reach his standards on how girls should look to please a boy? I was so blind then. I can’t believe you thought we were friends!”

“No, stop right there.” Kate makes Tessa sit down on her and goes to cuddle her youngest daughter, just like when she was five and needed comfort. “You _were_ friends, maybe not for a long time but you once were great friends.”

“Yeah mom, when we were like eight years old. Big deal.” She sighs and pulls her mom closer. “He probably doesn’t remember me from back then either. He was one of the popular outgoing Moir boys and I was just… a girl.”

“You never were just a girl in that rink, Tessa. You know that. Everyone there loves you.” Kate places a hand on her daughter’s knee, trying to show her the love, not only her, but everyone in that community always felt for her.

“Yeah, except him.” There’s a  defeated expression on her face.

Kate's motherly sixth sense notes something else besides the hurt of not being recognized by the Moir boy. “So, I’m sensing there’s something there that you’re not telling me either.”

“Like what?” Tessa raises her eyebrows. She thinks she knows what’s about to come out of her mother’s mouth, but she still tries to sound confused.

“Like maybe that you like Scott?” The expression on her daughter's face answers her questions  before the girl opens her mouth again.

“Like Scott? Mom, how do you think I could love him?” She senses that her mom is trying to take something out of her, but she doesn't give in. “I know I’ve let myself get screwed over time and time again in favour of more medals and more success, but do you think I would let myself be used by a boy? Who judges women based on their looks?”

“I never said anything about love, Tessa.” Kate smirks at her daughter’s slip up, now fully gasping the whole situation.

“Mom!” The young woman fell on her mom's trap and only realizes then.

“Okay.” Kate concedes, not wanting to Tessa feel like she's not on her side. “Maybe you don’t like him now, but perhaps you _liked_ him? In the past?”

“Yes. That would be possible. But not now.” She points out.

“Okay, baby.” Tessa smiles at the nickname that never went away from my mom's costumes. “I believe you. Just don’t do any big decisions while you’re still hot headed, okay?”

“I just think that I have to do what feels right for me now.” The girl admits. “I’m tired of thinking about the others.”

“And you’re right to focus on you, sweetheart.” Kate tells her, putting a strand of her daughter’s hair behind her ear. adds something “Just remember what I said about big decisions, alright?”

“Yes, mom. And thank you for your advices.” Kate nods, gives her daughter a gentle hug and kiss on her hairline and leaves the room.

~~~~

After dinner, Jordan asked Tessa to check something on her laptop, not wanting to go upstairs just to get it. Tessa agrees, obviously. She has nothing to hide from her sister, there are no secrets between the two girls. However,  the older girl is not expecting to see what is on the screen.

“Tess! What is this? What are you doing?” She inquires, wanting to understand what her sister is doing.

“Moving on.” She states. “Do you think I can keep living with Scott after this? My conversation with him just proved that he has changed nothing and still doesn’t realise the consequences of his actions. I have to find a new place in Montreal.”

“Tessa…”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... we swear we don't love drama, it loves us!
> 
> We are already working on the next chapter, but due to my (Nicole) work schedule until Jan 8th, the development will be a little bit slower than usual. Be patient with us because from this point on, we'll have a rollercoaster that only goes up! 
> 
> We love reading and answering comments here! It warms our hearts!


	7. And I'm on my way to believing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The return to McGill...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *inserts It's been 84 years gif*  
> Hello, again, everyone! It took us almost 4 months to get this chapter (the longest we've wrote so far) but here's a new update! You see, since mid December, we both had been crazy busy with work schedule and odd times (Nicole), university (Ana) and live in general. We just hope this return is well worth the wait (pun intended)!
> 
> We would like to thank everyone that commented on our work so far, the girls on the gc giving us small feedbacks and cheering us. Idella and Cas, thank you for being our betas for this chapter! Your reactions gave us LIFE!
> 
> Without further notes, here's chapter 7! 
> 
> The chapter title comes from Paramore's "The Only Expection".

Scott arrives back in Montreal Wednesday afternoon. His classes start the following morning, so he decided to come earlier just to organize everything in the house again, relax a little bit and make a plan on how to be worthy of Tessa’s trust again. He takes a cab to the apartment, since he knows Chiddy and Andrew are probably returning from their respective travels and won’t be able to give him a ride.

When he gets inside the place that started to feel a lot like home for him, he can’t help but notice how empty it seems to be. The boy goes to open Tessa’s bedroom door just slightly and sees it neatly organized but without any signs that she came back from London.

Feeling defeated and understanding the meaning behind her “goodbye” at The Bag Lady, he takes his carry on and backpack to his bedroom, and lies down on the bed, not even bothering to change from his travel clothes or unpack his luggage. The boy feels so tired from the travel and the tension of the past few days that he falls asleep.

Scott wakes up with a sound of keys being turned at the front door, followed by the noise of a suitcase being pushed. He gets up with a start, looking through his window for a second and realizing it’s already morning outside.

He practically runs towards the hallway and the sight is one he didn’t think he would see again: Tessa walking into the apartment with her luggage. He has a big grin on his face and goes to greet and help her, much like the first time they saw each other in the apartment.

“Hi.” He says, carefully walking towards her.

“Hey.” She replies, putting a stray loose hair behind her ear.

“Uhm, do you need help with your bag?” He offers.

“Yes, I’d like that, thank you.” She accepts, getting into the living room.

“You know, after that day at The Bag Lady, I thought you wouldn’t be back here in this apartment. Your ‘goodbye’ felt like it was terminal.” He emphasis the word with a hand gesture.

Inhaling deeply, Tessa decides there’s no use in being dishonest with Scott if she wants to move forward with their relationship as roommates. “To be honest, it was. At first.”

Tessa notes the cheerful expression on Scott’s face fail a little, turning into a frown and remembers the talk she had with her siblings before returning to Montreal. He finishes bringing her luggage close by the couch and sits on the armchair opposite to his roommate.

“So what made you change your mind?” He asks with a honest tone, wanting nothing more than to know who he needs to thank for the second chance with the young woman sitting right across of him.

“Well, it was long and somewhat stressful talk with Jordan and Casey.” She shares, not looking to meet her roommate’s curious gaze.

She inhales deeply once more and decides to tell him the important parts of her talk with two of her siblings.

_~~~_

_Two days before..._

_“Tess! What is this? What are you doing?” Jordan inquires, wanting to understand what her sister is doing._

_“Moving on.” She states, still clicking and typing away on her sister’s computer. “Do you think I can keep living with Scott after this? My conversation with him just proved that he hasn’t changed and still doesn’t realise the consequences of his actions. I have to find a new place in Montreal.”_

_“Tessa…” Jordan pushes her sister all the way up to her room._

_“No, listen to me. What makes you think I can just keep living with Scott? I gave him a chance. This month was his chance and he blew it all yesterday. I can’t be with someone who doesn’t respect me. Who just keeps trying to flirt with me everyday, and then at the first chance away does the same with other girls. And still has the nerve to say that I was the thing he was grateful for the most in 2018? He was just trying to make amends and you know it. Do you really think he could have changed that much in only one month? I was a fool for believing in him and his actions.”_

_“No, T. He really has changed. You’re just focusing on everything that happened yesterday and you’re erasing a month of good memories that you have together. And I know you have them. You can’t seriously think that all the dinners he cooked for you, the hot chocolates he made you, all the snacks he brought you when you were too focused to eat, were all just to get his way on you. That’s way too much work for a guy who’s just trying to get some.”_

_“Yeah? How do you explain his behaviour yesterday then?”_

_“What behaviour, Tess? You know what I saw? A young man worried about the girl he probably likes, regretting all of his actions in the past, beating himself up for being a jackass, trying to figure out how to fix the situation.”_

_“Oh, you’re so blind.” The younger woman shakes her head, not willing to listen to her sister’s nonsense any longer._

_“No,_ you _are blind, Sam.” Jordan says with a harsh tone, and Tessa looks at her surprised. “Do you think I wouldn’t be here defending Scott Moir if I didn’t think he had changed? You know I’ve never liked the guy. You’re my little sister, what makes you think I would be here telling you to forgive a boy if I thought he didn’t deserve you? Maybe there’s no excuse for what he did in past years, but you have to give him some credit for trying to change at least.”_

_“Ugh. I’m done talking to you. I’m going downstairs. Just please don’t close the tabs on my laptop. I think I found some great places.”_

_“You’re making a huge mistake!” Jordan yells through the door._

_“Shut up!”_

_Jordan runs downstairs after Tessa._

_“Damn, what are you two bickering about?” Casey asks, getting into the family room._

_“Just Tessa not handling the truth.” Jordan points out._

_“I said. Shut. Up!” Her voice raises with each word._

_“Hey, calm down both of you!”_

_“I’m calm. It’s Tessa who is out there making impulsive decisions that she’ll regret later.” Tessa shoots her sister a death look, telling her to stop talking._

_Casey looks at her with a sharp gaze. “Tessa? What’s going on?”_

_“Nothing.”_

_“She wants to move out of her apartment in Montreal because of Scott Moir.”_

_“Hey!”_

_“Don’t ‘hey’ me. I can’t let you make this stupid decision just because you’re the most stubborn person I know. Just admit that Scott has changed and that he deserves another chance. You know you want to. You know you still like him, no matter how many times you say that you don’t...”_

_“Jordan!” Tessa looks sideways to her brother._

_“Oh come on, everyone knows little T has a crush on Scott Moir. Scott Moir was probably the only one who doesn’t know.”_

_The girl turns as red as a tomato. “Yeah. Thanks a lot for that.”_

_“Well, you deserved it.”_

_“Okay, can we stop here, please?” The older boy interjects. “I agree with Jo, Scott has really changed. Do I think he is the best man alive? No. Do I think you could do better? Maybe. Although, as your older brother I’ll always think you can do better. But Tessa, you like him, I know you do, and you deserve to be happy. Now, if you tell me you really think he’s incapable of making you happy, then I’ll let you go. But I’m 99% sure that’s not the case, and if you do what you’re thinking of doing you’re gonna regret it. You know you won’t be happy, because deep down you know he has changed. You’re just trying to find excuses so you don’t have to face him again, but that’s not the way to fix the situation.”_

_“I’m not trying to avoid him. I’m just… hurt.” Tessa confesses. “I guess this is all years and years of bottling it all up. I swear I’m not avoiding him, but I also have to protect my feelings. Can you guarantee me that he won’t hurt me and that at his first chance he won’t run to someone else and try his ways on other girls when I’m not looking?”_

_“I can’t guarantee you anything, Tess.” Her brother says in a honest tone. “No one can. But here’s what I can guarantee you: when you were all curled up in the basement, he had the most worried look on his face. He was the one who offered to go talk to you and check on you; Jordan didn’t want to let him go, but the puppy look on his face made it impossible to say no. I understand that you have to think about your feelings, but have you thought about his? I don’t want you to take pity on him, but you should know that he is hurting too with this whole situation, he’s confused. The look on his face when he came back after talking to you? It was genuine. You can’t make that up.”_

_“I-” The tears are now streaming down her face._

_“Just think about it, okay?” He places a hand on her knee. “Don’t make any decision you might regret later.”_

_~~~_

“So yeah, that’s the story of how my siblings actually convinced me to stay and give you another chance.” She finishes telling the anecdote (but leaving aside the parts where she talked about her still existent crush), sitting on one side of the couch.

“Wow, T. I’m- I’m so sorry.” He gets up to move across the space between them and sits beside Tessa, taking her hands into his larger ones. “I know now of all the pain I’ve caused you, and I know I’ve told you this before, but I really was a jerk. I know it’s not an excuse but… I’m just sorry. It wasn’t my intention to hurt you. It never was.”

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s not your fault that my feelings weren’t mutual. You can’t force someone to like you back, right?”

_If only she knew_ , he thinks. “Yeah, you’re right, but the way I treated you, it’s just…” He wants for her to understand that he really has changed since he realized what a special woman his roommate is.

“Don’t worry about it now.” She dismisses him quickly. “What’s done is done, and you’ve changed, right? That’s all that matters, okay?”

Scott pulls her in for a hug, breathing her in. Since that night when she fell asleep next to him on the couch he’s been longing for that particular scent of hers that makes him feel so warm. They stay in that position for a few minutes, until Tessa breaks the hug, stating that she’s tired and still wants to organize her things for her classes the next day.

On the next day, Scott decides to skip his classes. With Tessa out of the house, he takes the opportunity to start putting up what he had planned back in Ilderton. He goes to his closet and takes the big box he brought from home filled with memories. He wants to show Tessa that she did make an impact in his life, even if he hadn’t realised it at first. So, he starts decorating the whole apartment with photos and memories of them both at the Ilderton Skating Club: their skating team as little kids, their first competitions, them playing and laughing together, racing each other. However, he was saving what he considered to be the best surprise: a video his mother made for her 11th birthday, a compilation of some of their videos skating and having fun, and at the end, a little clip of him saying, _“Happy birthday Tessa! You’re the best skater ever. I love you!”_ He doesn’t know if she ever got to see it, but he hopes it will bring a smile to her face nonetheless.

~~~

Tessa finishes classes by noon and is feeling pretty excited for the rest of the day. Considering she just got back from a break, she still doesn’t have much homework to do or exams to study for as well, so she planned to watch Skate America with Chiddy for the rest of day. Her new friend gave her the joy of watching skating again and helped her get through a difficult time of adaptation; she is very grateful to have him in her life now.

She decides to go back home and eat a quick lunch before organizing everything to have a pleasant day with the young man. As soon as she opens the door to her apartment she’s startled by her roommate, who’s quick to jump in front of her and greet her with a joyous smile and the energy of a puppy.

“Tess! Hey! You’re back so soon!” Scott greets her with a hug, not letting her pass past the hallway, leaving Tessa to think he should be up to no good.

“Hum… Yes… My classes finished at noon, I had planned to watch Skate America with Chiddy this afternoon...” She pulls back a little from the hug, to look up on his face. “And didn’t you have classes this morning as well? What are you doing here?”

The young man scratches the back of his head with an embarrassing look, avoiding her gaze. “I, hummm, yeah… I was tired, you know, moving day and all. I decided to skip classes just this once.” He explains in a way that doesn’t really convince her, but she decides to let it go, noticing his uncomfortable look.

“By the way, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you first about Chiddy coming over, but we didn’t really have the chance to talk much and I figured you wouldn’t mind, considering he’s your friend. But we can totally go to my room if that bothers you.”

“No, don’t worry about that.” He assures her, rubbing her upper arms in a gentle manner. _Time to put my plan on work_ , he thinks. “Just… Follow me, okay? I have something to show you.” He leads her into the living room, where he had displayed all the photographs and memories of the two of them as little kids, and group photos from winter carnival. Sure enough, the brunette is blown away by everything she sees in front of her.

“Scott, I… What… I don’t…” She’s speechless and there are tears in her eyes. She was definitely not expecting anything remotely close to this when she woke up this morning.

“Don’t say anything yet. This is not all.” Scott turns to the tv and a home video starts playing. Tessa sees a young version of them skating after one another, having fun at the Ilderton rink, laughter echoing in their little apartment while the two friends are silent with the images playing. Suddenly a young boy starts talking. It’s a voice she knows all too well and that, seven years later, she never realized she missed. It’s the voice of her childhood best friend wishing her a happy birthday and telling her that he loves her and that she’s the best skater she knows. Hearing this, Tessa starts sobbing. To this, Scott pulls her close again and hugs her, and she lets herself get lost in his embrace.  

After a few moments, her sobs subdue and she cleans the remaining tears on her face, while Scott’s hands come to rest around her wrists, his thumbs caressing the inside of them.

“You… You remember?” To say she’s astonished, in a good way, is an understatement.

“I do, T.” He says, moving his hands from her wrists to grasp them into his own, giving them a reassurance squeeze. “I could never forget you. We have history. You were my best friend.”

“But where did you find all of this? And this video? I had never seen it, it was so sweet.” She looks confused, but curious to know where he found so many things from their childhood.

“I found it all in my mom’s basement, and as you know she owns the rink and she kept all this stuff. She always knew you would go on to do great things. And so did I, deep down.” At this point, he just wants to kiss her and make all of her tears disappear, but he doesn’t. They aren’t there yet.

“Scott, I don’t know what to say. This is one of the best things someone has ever done for me. Thank you. The apartment looks beautiful. It looks… ours.” She stands on her tiptoes and kisses his cheek, making the young man blush. She then takes her phone out of her pocket and starts photographing everything. “Do you mind? I just really wanna show all of this to my mom and sister.”

Scott doesn’t even listening to her question, lost in Tessa’s sudden display of affection, quite unusual of her, and the use of the word _ours_ , like there is a _them_ , a _Scott and Tessa_. Maybe there is after all, he thinks, maybe all hope isn’t totally lost. He is going to work for it anyway.

While he’s lost in his trail of thoughts, Tessa texts Jordan first, writing that she was right and thanking her sister for talking some sense into her, and then her mom, showing Kate all the photos Scott put as decorations, all with a content smile on her face.

~~~

By 3pm Chiddy rings the bell to his friends’ apartment. He hears some quick footsteps and is soon greeted by a particularly cheerful Tessa.

“Hey, Chiddy.” She says, pulling her friend into a side hug and letting him inside the apartment.

“Hey, Tess.” He notices she looks as beautiful as ever, but with a hint of something else thats shows just how happy she is right now.

“Can you head off to the living room and set everything up to watch the competition? I’m just going to Scott’s room and ask him if he wants to join us.” Tessa asking Scott to join her on stuff is brand new information to him but he just goes along with it, not questioning her.

A minute later, he’s joined by his two friends in the living room and raises an eyebrow to the young man, who went to sit on the couch. He’s answered by nothing but a content smile.

“Do you guys want something? Coffee, hot chocolate, popcorn?” Tessa asks from the kitchen.

“Hot chocolate is fine, but there’s no way I’ll let you burn that beautiful white kitchen.” Scott joins her in the kitchen, helping her make the hot beverages and pick the snacks.

Chiddy watches his friends interact from afar, making a mental note in his head to ask them separately if there have been some new developments in their “relationship”. Obviously he noticed all the pictures of their childhood on display and wondered what the hell happened in only one day since Tessa returned from London.

Skate America is then far away from his mind when he sees that they sit close together on the couch, and not one at each end of it, like they used to. He notices the way Scott looks at Tessa like she hangs the moon and the stars even when doing simple things like shouting at the judges when her favourites don’t get the scores they deserve. And he also sees how Tessa gets lost in Scott and forgets all about the competition when he is so focused on all jumps and spins on the ladies event. He notices the way Scott smiles so proudly when he makes Tessa laugh, and how he carelessly places his hand on her thigh, almost like he’s been doing it his whole life, when she’s laughing so much that she almost cries.

They’re in the middle of the Rhythm Dance event when Scott bursts out, “Damn she’s sassy, I like her. Look at that smirk! Go get’em girl!”

Suddenly Tessa wakes up from her sleepy state to look at the girl dancing on the ice. Madison Hubbell, of course. She retreats a little from her roommate’s embrace and crosses her arms in front of her chest. The two boys in the room can sense the shift in her behaviour but no one dares to speak, especially Chiddy, interested in seeing how this will unfold from now on.

“Yeah, she’s pretty. But a little too much for you. You couldn’t handle her. And she would definitely turn you down.” She says in a flat tone.

“Oh. Is that a challenge then?” Scott says with a smirk, trying to see how far her jealousy can go. This makes him more interested in the conversation than in the competition, so Scott presses the pause button.

Tessa doesn’t even have a chance to answer him before Chiddy dives into the conversation as well. “Dude, no you don’t want to go there. Do you want to be in the middle of her ex-boyfriend, who’s dancing with her, his current girlfriend and her ice dancing partner, Madison’s fiancé?”

Scott chokes on his own saliva. “Excuse me?”

“I’m serious. There’s a whole Buzzfeed article about them. A _huge_ mess.” He proceeds to tell Scott all about their complicated story, while Tessa, now hugging her legs, attempting to stay warm as the temperature gets colder, stares into the space, clearly in her own planet, not engaging in the conversation. “You are right. Don’t wanna turn a perfectly good love square into a love pentagon.” She suddenly hears Scott saying, attempting to get her attention back with a good pun, and turning the video back on.

“Well, twizzles aren’t that hard anyway. You shouldn’t feel so impressed.” She shares, shrugging. “Jumps and spins are the real bitches.” The girl adds, in a nonchalant tone.

The boys look towards each other at the same time, sharing a look that says _“we better not mess with Tessa when it comes to figure skating”_ and shift their attention back to the recording.

Tessa continues to shiver as their viewing session goes on, and that doesn’t goes unnoticed by the young man. He tries to get closer to her once more, pulling a blanket that was next to him to their laps. Tessa, although a little annoyed with the whole “pretty girls” talk, doesn’t try to fight back, and she’s again in Scott’s embrace. This also has not gone unnoticed by Chiddy.

As they reach the end of Hubbell and Donohue’s program, like always, the commentators refer to the two partner’s connection, how they’re so in sync with each other and move as one, which makes Tessa reveal something she had never told anyone before.

“I wish I had a partner to dance with. I’d love to have that connection with someone. It can get lonely being out there all by yourself.” She confesses.

Before Scott even has the chance to think and realise what he’s saying, he answers “I would dance with you”. He follow his reply with a kiss on her temple and squeezing her against his side, showing her his affection.

To this, Chiddy can only open his eyes in shock, and he thinks to himself _IS THIS ALLOWED?_ Except, without intending it, he doesn’t only think it, he actually says it out loud, and when he realises it, he sees his two friends blushing, looking rather confused with his statement.

“Is what allowed?” Scott asks, a little annoyed that his friend interrupted their little moment.

“Hum, you know, _THEM_!” He points to the TV, where they could all see Zach Donohue with his hand in a so-not-platonic place, kissing his very much engaged ex-girlfriend/partner’s temple. “How dare they say they are not screwing around?” Tessa hides the smile that starts to form on her face, thinking that was exactly what her roommate - or should she call him friend? she isn’t sure - had done too just seconds ago. Scott decides to dismiss the subject. He noticed how it made Tessa uncomfortable and he doesn’t want anything or anyone (read: his sometimes stupid best friend who can’t keep his mouth shut) to ruin the great moment they’re having together.

A little later, when the Rhythm Dance event comes to a close, Tessa starts getting tired and leaning her head more and more on Scott’s shoulder and, in return, he protectively puts his arm around her shoulders, making her more comfortable. Chiddy takes this as his cue to leave and let the pair have a little moment on their own and figure out their feelings towards each other.

“Right, I think I’m gonna head off. It’s getting dark.” He says, making Tessa and Scott nearly jump in surprise, clearly mindless of their friend’s presence already.

“Tessa, we’re still on for our lunch tomorrow at school, right?” He asks, before putting his sneakers back on and gathering his things on the couch arm.

“Yeah, of course, Chiddy, I’m looking forward to it.” She answers with a sleepy smile, but trying to show her genuine enthusiasm for catching up with her friend.

“Scott, I’ll text you later, man.” His expression pretty much matches his roommate’s, showing clear signs of sleepiness. Scott untangles himself from Tessa, who groans softly as he does so, to walk their friend to the front door of the apartment.

“Yes, drive safe, Chiddy. Text me when you get home, please.” The boys shake their hands and just like that, Chiddy was out, leaving the two roommates to their shenanigans.

Thirty minutes later, Scott gets a message from his friend telling him that he got home safe and asking him a rather strange question, so he decides to call him.

“What do you mean with that question?” He tries to sound as chill as possible, but his friend knows better.

“Exactly what I asked you: what’s the newest development between you and Tessa? Come on, just tell me. I have eyes! And ears!”

“Nothing happened, I don’t know what to tell you and I don’t know what you saw. We’re just getting closer. Like friends. Platonic friends. Nothing is happening.”

“Sure, bud.” He replies, unconvinced. “That’s not what I saw but I’ll let this one go. Sleep tight.”

~~~

The next day, after her morning class, Tessa meets with Chiddy at a Second Cup store close by the campus, where they had agreed to have lunch together. His classes finish half an hour after the girl’s so she decides to walk to the place to kill some time and wait for him there. Just as she’s sitting she felt something in her pocket vibrating.

_Scott, the roommate:_

_Hey, just passed by cute dog and thought of you..._

The brunette smiles at the text message she has just received.

_Tessa:_

_Oh really? So I resemble a dog now, eh?_

_Scott, the roommate:_

_Yes, cute, pretty, gorgeous eyes, just makes you want to cuddle…_

She blushes at that.

_Tessa:_

_Oh, you’re just trying to get on my good side…_ 🤔

_Scott, the roommate:_

_Never!_

_Anyway, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but A Star is Born is premiering soon, I thought maybe you wanted to watch it?_

_We could go together perhaps?_

_Here’s the trailer (link)._

_Tessa:_

_Scott Moir, are you asking me out on a date?_ 👀

_Scott, the roommate:_

_No, not a date, just two friends, you know, going to the movies together._

_It happens all the time, nothing weird about it._

Her face falls a little when she sees his answer. Tessa was secretly hoping that he would say yes. She wasn’t indifferent to last night’s events, and she was hoping neither was he. But he’s right, they’re just friends and she’s going to enjoy the relationship they’ve started to built since coming back from Ontario. It’s already a lot that he asked her to go to the cinema with him, at least it means he wants to spend some time with her.

After a while, she sees her screen light up again.

_Scott, the roommate:_

_Please say yes._

_Please, please, please?_

_You need to have fun._

_At least watch the trailer?_

_I know you’ll love it._

_Tessa:_

_Yes, of course I’ll go with you! But we’ll talk better tonight, okay?_

Tessa feels so giddy with the prospect of going to the cinema alone with Scott that she doesn’t even notice Chiddy coming into the diner and approaching their table.

“What you’re smiling at?”

“Oh jeez, Chiddy, you scared me.” She puts a hand to her heart, trying to steady her heartbeat after the scare, puts her phone face down on the table, and turns to greet her friend. “Hello to you too! It’s no one, just, hum, my mom. She wanted to know how my first day back to class went.”

“I see, you’re smiling like that because your mom asked how your day is going?” He questions, with a smirk adorning his face. _I’m onto something here, ladies and gentleman_ , he thinks.

“Yes, she’s a very loving mother and I adore her with my whole heart.”

“I don’t doubt that. I just think there’s also someone else who you adore with your whole heart too…” Chiddy almost mumbles the last part.

“What was that?” She asks, partially curious, partially afraid.

“Nothing, nothing.” The boy lets it slide for now and changes the subject, since he’s hungry. “Wanna order?”

“Yeah.” With that, Tessa start to get up from their table, but Chiddy stops her with a hand motion.

“Nah, stay where you are. Just say whatever you wanna order, it’s on me today.”

“Chiddy, you don’t have to-”

“It’s no problem, Tess.” He cut her off, explaining with a shrug. “That’s what friends are for. And besides, you can cover for me on a future occasion.”

The girl feels a warm smile creeping on her face with her friend’s gesture.

“I want a chicken caesar wrap and a chai frappé.” She says, blushing a little when sharing her drink order, still feeling a little bit conscious that she can eat and drink whatever she wants.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” The boy tells her and leaves her alone by their table to go in line to order their lunch.

Chiddy returns to their table with Tessa’s order first, then his after a second trip to the counter to get it and makes his way back to where his friend is waiting. Tessa notices that, besides his Aussie Beef Pie and Matcha Tea Latte, he also bought some Iced Fudge Brownie Squares.

The boy notes how the girl looks at the treat with surprise lacing her gaze. If only she knew he’s trying to make her feel comfortable and create a good moment so she ends up spilling the beans about the truth of her and Scott’s very much platonic behaviours from last night.

Patrick sits across from Tessa and the friends start to eat their chosen meals, sharing small stories about their class and professors. Soon enough, the boy starts approaching the subject.

“So last night was fun, eh?”

“Yeah, it was. I’m so glad we became friends, so I don’t have to feel bad or jealous of the skaters in competitions. Now I know that you’ll judge them as much as I would as a viewer.” She says, picking up on brownie square and taking a bite of the goodie. “This is so good! You better get your share before I eat all of these.”

The boy chuckles and moves his hands in an exaggerated manner, picking two squares for himself.

“Gotta agree, this is really good. And I’m not even as much a fan of all things chocolate like you.” He says with a laugh, Tessa joining in. She’s well aware how her love for chocolate was easily discovered by her new friends in Montreal.

“Well, when a chocolate treat is as good as this one, you gotta love it.” She justifies with a shrug.

Chiddy smirks and nods nonachantally, knowing it’s time to acknowledge the elephant in the room. “Just as much as you gotta love a certain boy with hazel eyes, right?”

The boy looks at his friend with intent just in time to see her face getting red as a tomato and choke on the bite of fudge she just put in her mouth.

He quickly gets up and starts patting on Tessa’s back, feeling slightly bad about himself for causing her to have such reaction. After taking a few deep breaths and taking a sip of water from the bottle she carries around on her backpack, Tessa looks at Patrick with daggers in her green eyes. The look is so intense the boy ends up going back to the chair he was previously occupying.  

“God dammit Chiddy, you should know better than to ask things like these out of the blue!” She states, slightly irritated at her friend’s innuendo. “And to answer your question, the only relationship happening between me and Scott is the same as between two roommates.”

“Sure, Jan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you guys think? Was it good enough for all this waiting?
> 
> And btw, we know Skate America didn't happen on early October, but we decided to bend the calendar to our favor and go with it.
> 
> If you feel like it, share your thoughts on the comments or find us over twitter (@anathefangirI and @nicknotkidman)!


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